The craziest thing I have EVER done in my life - Switzerland day 3

Today was pretty wild, in a good way. I woke up at 8 and by 9am 5 of us girls were on way out the door. The plan for the day for me because I had about .40 cents left on me was to lay low and just wander around Interlaken until we had to meet the bus at 3:30 to head back to Florence. 4 of the girls though that I had been hanging out with really wanted to go canyon jumping so I said I would go along and take some pictures as well as take the videos of them jumping.

I should explain here a little what canyon jumping actually is. It is similar to bungee jumping but some people say way cooler. With bungee jumping you are jumping from the same point where your rope is and it is an elastic rope so you bounce up and down a few times once you have fallen head first. Well canyon jumping has the same idea but resembles a swing set. So the rope is actually held in the middle and it is an actual rope (not a bungee cord). You are on one side of it being held up like you are on top of the swing ready to drop. Then once you jump off the platform (feet first), you fall 150ft going 120km/hour into the canyon with the rocks on either side of you, only feet away. You keep falling straight down until the rope catches and then you swing crazy fast through the canyon. You swing a few times and then they send another rope out to you that you grab onto and then pull yourself to the side where you climb the few steps on the ladder and then you are done. Sound intense? ;)

It only took about 20min or so for us to reach the top of the canyon and then about 20min after that everyone was paying and getting harnessed up. By this point, I had still decided that I wasn't going to jump for a few reasons. To be honest, I did actually want to do it but I really didn't have the money and I was pretty sure that I would be over the jump weight limit. I really didn't want to chance killing myself this close to me coming home. lol

Well, all that changed all of 2min later when I learned the weight restriction was double me. My credit card was swiped and I was getting harnessed up. :{ I wasn't scared...yet, but as we got close to the edge I was starting to feel a little frightened. Their was 11 of us all together (5 from our group and then 6 others). When he asked who was going to go first, I jumped right in there! Yup, the person who wasn't even going to do it, went first. So instead of me taking pictures and videos for the other girls, they had to do it for me. lol :)

As he started hooking me up to the actual rope, fear started to go through me. When I say fear here, I mean it... REALLY mean it. I said a little goodbye message on my video (just in case) and then he moved me to the platform. By this point, even he had to give me a little pep talk and as I stood there with tears of fear in my eyes they counted me down. 5-4-3-2 and as they said 1 I was off! I just did it. I didn't think about. I just ran off the platform, screamed and started falling. The fall itself took less that 3 seconds and then I started swinging but as you can imagine it actually feels like you are free falling to your death until right then when you think you are going to fall onto the rocks the swing part catches you and then you just swing and enjoy the ride. :)

It was the most intense, crazy thing I have and ever will do in my life! Its still hard to believe I actually did it and I can't wait to show you all the video of it. So, obviously one day later as I write my blog about my canyon jumping experience, I survived it. I not only survived but realized now that I really can do anything that I put my mind to. The girl who can't climb a ladder because she is afraid of falling off, jumped off a cliff in the Swiss Alps!

The afternoon was much quieter and we just hung out and had a lazy lunch. After lunch I headed to the lake to get a few last minute photo's and then I headed back to the hostel to meet the group and head back to Florence.

Bern - Switzerland Day 2

This morning, seven of us hopped on the bus and we got to have a free trip into Bern, the Capitol of Switzerland. Our free day trip was because there was no snow and we couldn't go night sledding. So instead, our bus driver took us to Bern for the day.

The city was so beautiful. Two different Christmas markets started up on Saturday while we were there. the day itself was pretty uneventful but the sights and just the atmosphere alone was enough to make me have a wonderful day.

I also shopped out the chocolate shops! Yup, I bought a crap load of chocolate that we can share once I am back home. I have to warn you though, if my suitcase weight is over, I will be forced to eat the chocolate. ;) I'll do my best though to refrain.

Me and another girl I was hanging out with for the day stopped and listen to a local play his guitar and sing some music all while he was making some marionettes dance. It was really good folk music, very upbeat. Once he was done one of his songs he commented on us smiling and asked me to come forward. I went up to him only to learn that he not only was a good singer but also an excellent balloon character maker. lol He whipped me up a white sheep, made a baaahhing noise and handed me my balloon. He made both of us balloon animals and we headed on our way. It was a nice change to see one of the street performers so friendly. I have to admit though that everyone I met and talked to in Switzerland was very friendly. It was very nice to see.

I headed out by myself for a little and took some pictures and then we all met at 5pm to head back to Interlaken. The trip back only took an hour, so once back at the hostel we had a drink and then decided what to do for supper. I was on a strict $10 budget for supper as that's all I had left in Swiss franc and I really didn't want to take anymore money out so 5 of us headed out to find fondue for some of the girls and something pretty cheap for me. :) In the end they wandered from restaurant to restaurant trying to find the cheapest fondue possible (and then never ended up getting it anyway). Shortly before them choosing a restaurant though, it was already after 8:30, I was tired from walking through Bern for 6 hours and really hungry. So, I made the decision (because no one else was and it was driving me crazy) to just go to McDonald's for supper. I headed towards McDonald's and one of the girls came with me. The other payed way more money for burgers at a different restaurant.

Once again, I found myself in bed by 11pm. I was finding that by the end of every day I was so exhausted from the days activities that I would fall right to sleep. The only thing I found really annoying though was that I had to wear my sweater and toque to bed each night because I was so cold. :{

Going to Switzerland!

We left for Switzerland about 6:30pm on Thursday night. We arrived in Interlaken around 3am and after getting assigned a room with only 1 other girl and a cool room at that, I hopped into bed to get a couple of hours of sleep.

Friday morning we were up and had breakfast by 8:30am. My roommate (Grace) and I decided to go to the "Top of Europe", along with 2 other girls. It was a very busy day. We were on the train by 11am and then stopped at 3 towns in total along the way. Each town we stopped at we got off for 1 hour and toured around. It was so pretty and it was a great way to spend the day. Once we got to the top (Technically we only made it 3/4 of the way up because to the top cost an extra $130) we stopped for lunch. I ordered a traditionally cheesy lunch. Soooo yummy! It was a dumpling/cheese dish with broccoli. WOW

We got some wonderful pictures and the view was so beautiful. I could have stayed up there for ever. It was only around zero outside and it was a sunny day. At the highest point we were at, we were almost 7000ft above see level. The snow was fun to walk in and I even slipped once on the ice so I felt a little twinge of missing winter back home. I wasn't that worried though, I'll be home soon enough. :)

We didn't make it back to Interlaken until about 6:30pm. The whole group went out for dinner around 8:00pm. Unfortunately the food took forever and our meals didn't show up until about 10:15pm. I was super hungry. The food was really good though and then afterwards we all just went up to our rooms and went to bed. The fresh air and good hearty food made us all pretty tired.

There's a first time for everything

Last Thursday I had to say goodbye to Ivonne because she was heading home to Mexico. She invited a bunch of people out for a few drinks to say goodbye and wish her well and of course I was one of them. :) I arrived at the bar around 10:30 and there was a few people already there, including Mario (of course). I met a few of their friends I hadn't met before, had a drink and just chilled out.

I have realized though that they really don't have 'girly' drinks here. I went up to the bartender and asked for a really sweet drink. I was thinking that I was going to get something pink, purple, red...like our really sweet 'girly' drinks back home. Nope! He handed me a vodka and orange juice (with a garnish of an orange slice) and charged me 8e. Nice! Oh well, I guess soon enough I can drink paralyzers 'til I puke! :)

The one thing that I did want to mention though was that this was the first night that Mario, Marlene and myself were all out together. See, there is a first time for everything. ;)

Venice in a day!

I went with the FlorenceForFun group yesterday and we did Venice in a day. I wasn't sure that Venice could be done in one day. However, after 6 hours on the train and 7 hours of straight walking the answer is yes, it can be done, and here is how it all went down.

Up at 6:30 and on the train by 8:30. We arrived in Venice around 11:30 and started walking. We first hopped on one of the water buses that took us to the far side of the city near the church where there was a festival going on. We just happened to be lucky enough to end up in Venice on the same day as this one day festival which was cool. The festival brought in WAY more tourists and brought every local out of their houses but all in all made the day a lot more fun.

We walked around the one part of the city for awhile and then stopped for "lunch". I say it in "" because I'm not sure you can actually call what we ate for lunch, lunch. lol There was one street that had been converted into what looked like a fair zone. No rides but food galore! It was awesome. I ended up getting (along with everyone else) an elephant ear. I think they called them just giant sugar donuts here but back home, we call them elephant ears and BOY was it yummy. I was pretty pumped that I was eating a donut for lunch but was still a little hungry so I went to see what else deep fried I could eat. I came across these big deep fried balls (a little bigger than the size of a tennis ball) that were filled with rice and a meat sauce. I bought one of those and after eating half of it, I was done! I had been sugar and greased out.

After our lunch we headed over to see a glass blowing demonstration. It was really cool to see. He made a glass water pitcher, which actually took only about 5min for him to make. Once it was done, we were all so impressed. Then not 10 seconds later, he smashed it into a bucket! They do not have a proper place to cool down the glass gradually so they must break everything they make for demonstrations so it doesn't shatter later on. Sad, but still it was great to see how it was made.

We had about an hour of free time after the glass blowing demonstration. I took that time to do some much needed shopping! ;) I bought a few small glass pieces and then I headed back to meet the group. It was already 4pm by this point and we had to start heading back to the train station.

We stopped around 5pm and had our gondola ride. I was actually quite nervous about it for some strange reason. I am a great swimmer but I think because I had my camera on me and there was about 20 people in the gondola combined to make me a bit nervous. Also, the water was not the nicest to look at and falling in did not appeal to me one bit! Once on the other side of the grand canal (it was only about a 1 minute ride across) we walked the rest of the way to the station.

It was well after 10pm by the time I made it back to my place. I was hoping to go out with my roommates for Marlene's birthday supper but I was literally exhausted! Oh well, another time I guess.

5 Months Down and my 100th Post!

Yesterday was a fun and exciting day all around. It put me at my 5 month mark here in Italy. Wow, Its still hard to imagine some days that I have been living in Italy now for 5 months. How times flies.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. My roommate Marlene and I decided to climb the Duomo tower. 414 steps and about 30min later we made it to the top! What a beautiful view. It was so nice to be able to stand in the very middle of the city on the highest point and look out and admire the city that I have been calling my own now for the past 5 months. I also realized while I was up there that I would love to go back up just before sunset one day. How pretty that would be. I'm not sure my knees can handle it again though... we'll see.

Once back down we ran a few more errands and then made our way back home. I stopped and grabbed a gelato on the way because it was so beautiful out that I couldn't resist. ;)

For supper last night, Mario was teaching me to make spaghetti carbonara. I realized how easy it was to make and BOY was it yummy! It was Ivonne's second last night here before she has to go back to Mexico so we all shared a couple bottles of wine (now you understand why I didn't blog last night) ;) and just had some good fun while eating our carbonara and drinking our wine.

Around 11pm though, Ivonne really wanted to get one last gelato run in (I think I have become her gelato partner ). I couldn't let her go alone and so there we were after 11pm last night, three not entirely sober girls heading out for gelato. I also have to say here that this was the only time since I arrived in Italy that I had gelato twice in one day. Mmmmm ;)

I guess this is were I also need to say my what I've done and what I have left to do paragraph. Well this past month has taken me to Paris and hiking in the Chianti. I have seen how Olive oil is made and even got to try some that was literally right off the vine. I climbed to the tallest point in Florence and have had some really good times with my roommates and friends here.

What do I have left to do in my last 24 days here in Europe? This Saturday I head to Venice for the day, which I am sooo excited about. Next Thursday will take me on a 3 day trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. Once back here in Florence I hope to take in a football (aka soccer) game and just enjoy my last few days here in this wonderful city.

This post also marks my 100th post! To be honest, I never really thought I would make it to 100 posts but I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I have. I have enjoyed writing it because not only do I get to share my stories and experiences with you but it also gives me something to look back on to remind me of my time here. Thanks for reading!

Temp: A beautiful 19degrees
Gelato: 1/2 Creme di Medici & 1/2 Chocolate Mousse. The second round was a smaller cup but all Chocolate Mousse. Mmmmmm

Chianti Hike and Wine Tasting

Yesterday I went with the FlorenceForFun group to a town in the Chianti for a hike and wine tasting. We ended up in the town of Panzano which is about 1/2 an hour outside of Florence. We started inside the small town and started our hike from there.

Our hike in total lasted almost 3 hours and was exactly what it was called... a hike! We hiked up and down the hills in Chianti. Beautiful, but wow, was it tough at times. We got our shoes full of mud walking on the trails between the grape and olive tree fields. It was so beautiful. The color of leaves on the trees was just great. I felt pure joy (when I didn't feel like dying from all the climbing) admiring the view.

I was also lucky enough to taste an olive right off the tree! Have any of you ever done this before? Well before you think, wow, she is so lucky.... try it! lol It was the most bitter, horrible tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth. I have to say the taste of this olive almost compared to me trying Vegemite (an Australian spread. Like Nutella or our Cheese Whiz but WAY worse tasting). Anyway, the olive taste stayed with me for about 3 more hours. We were eating lunch and I could still taste the bitterness in my mouth. YUCK!

I was also lucky enough to witness the harvesting and the production of the olive oil. As we walked past a farm yard, we seen a few family members out in there yard picking the olives off of the trees. Very cool. I was really hoping to try to help out picking this year with some farm, but I don't think I will have the opportunity to. So, instead I admired from afar and took a few pictures. ;)

Once we were done our hike we ended up at a olive plant were we were lucky enough to see them actually turning the olives into oil. SO COOL! It actually didn't take very long at all and then for lunch we got to try some oil, fresh from the press! It was really good.

By the time we finished lunch and made our way back to Florence we had been out in the Chianti for over 8 hours. It was overall a very good day. Exhausting... but good.

30 Days and the Christmas Chain

Well today hits my 30 days left mark. I can't believe that I have almost been here 5 months already. I am so excited to be coming home soon. Don't get me wrong, I have loved and enjoyed (almost) every minute of my time here, however, I can't wait to get home to my family and my friends.

So, to mark this day and to start my 30 day count down, I decided to make a countdown chain. As kids, we made one of these chains every Christmas. It always gave us something to look forward to every night before bed so that we wouldn't go crazy waiting on Christmas to arrive. I thought it would be appropriate for me to make one and use it here.

Temp: 13 and misty

MJ & my Museum Mission

I was up and getting ready by 7:45am this morning. Ugh, way to early for my liking but unfortunately the museums here in Florence tend to only be open until 1:30pm and I wanted to go to 3 today. I have assigned myself a little mission for the next 34 days which is to go to 16 museums. I thought if I was ever going to accomplish this, I needed to set a goal. So, my goal was 4 a week for the 4 weeks. Well last week I learned that most museums are only open until early afternoon so if I was ever going to make my goal it meant getting up earlier than should be allowed by someone on holidays, and just get it done.

So today was day 1. I was at the first museum by about 9:30am and was quite annoyed when I found the doors open (opening hours were Mon-Fri 8am-1:30pm) but the man at the door told me they were closed. There was a barricade around the door and all they could tell me was that they were closed, with no other explanation. So, unfortunately, I need to go back, a third time to this museum. I should interject here and say that I actually am not a fan of museums. I know, I know, we should all love museums because they show us our past and teach us all about history, but as harsh as this sounds, I just find them boring. I am a nature girl and a photography girl. Put me out by water and I could sit there content all day but put me in a museum where I see the same sculpture 3 times by different artists or 5 of the same paintings just painted with a different media and I could almost fall asleep. I have decided to do this little mission though and my main reason is that I bought this pass that gets me into all of these places and I don't want to see it go to waste. I have been to 4 already but feel in order to get my monies worth, I need to go to all. Ambitious? possibly... Doable? We'll see. ;)

So after failing for the second time at the San Marco museum, I left and headed to my second building. Well I was equally perturbed when I walked in and the lady told me that I can no longer use my pass at this museum and that it was going to cost me 6e to get in. So, what did I do? Yup, I turned and walked out.

I was really hoping that my luck was going to change because if not, I was going home. Well it did. I made it to my third building of the day and was able to use my pass and I toured through the museum. It was small but nice. The architecture in each building is always so grand. Everything was created on a very big scale 100's of years ago. They also had a tendency to make everything in marble or other precious stones so everything you look at is very colorful.

After leaving what ended up being the only museum that I could get into today, I decided to go to one that I have been wanting to go to for quite some time now. I made my way to the museum of Photography. I did have to pay to get in but this one was justified and I enjoyed my time looking through negatives, slides, camera's and of course pictures from as early as 1835 (when photography first came to be). They also had a display case that held many scrapbooks with family pictures in them. It was interesting to see because we think that scrapbooking is quite a new, fun thing to do to make our pictures tell a story. However, after seeing the photo albums today I realized that a hundred year ago, they also used their pictures to tell a story in their albums as they looked like works of art as opposed to just laying pictures in an album. All in all it was very enjoyable.

I decided to end my day today with a little Michael Jackson. They were playing the new MJ movie This is it, at the Odeon theater here and I had to go and see it. I was a little saddened when I was told that they didn't have popcorn or pop at this one though. What theater doesn't sell popcorn during movies? Just strange. What he did try to sell me though was a sandwich (which he had a whole bunch pre-made) and alcohol. Isn't it weird that you can go to a movie in the middle of the afternoon and instead of being offered popcorn and coke, you are offered a sandwich and a beer. I guess this yet again shows me the differences between Europe and Canada. :) So instead, I bought a bottle of water and went in to enjoy the show and I did indeed. It was a great movie/documentary and I was very glad I went. Ahhh, I miss MJ. He really is the King of Pop as far as I'm concerned. :-)

What happens when a Canadian and a Mexican make something American?

Today I was up at the crack of dawn, well ok, 10:30am. ;) But come on... that is pretty early for me lately considering. So anyway, I up was up early today because Ivonne and I were going to make a cheesecake. Mmmm We have been talking about making a New York cheesecake for over a month now and today was the day. We went to the store and picked up the groceries and then headed back to the apartment.

Ivonne set to work crushing the cookies that we picked out for the crust (they don't have graham crackers here), and I started making the filling. I mixed the first two ingredients together and then needed to mix them with an electric mixer. Well we did have one, but it was one of those kinds that is hand held and only has one mixer on it. So I put it in the cream cheese/sugar mixture and turned it on. Cream cheese flew EVERYWHERE! lol It was so funny. We both stopped doing what we were doing and between the laughing started eating, I mean cleaning, up our mess. It was in our hair,on our clothes, on my computer screen (ya I know, I know) but on a happy note, tasted really yummy. :)

After we cleaned up the mess we decided to put the mixer aside and just do it the old fashioned way. We also didn't have a measuring cup so I improvised a bit by using one of the cream cheese containers. After it was all mixed together though we were pretty proud of ourselves. We poured it into the pan (not realizing that it was smaller than mine it back home) and the filling went to about 1cm below the surface of the pan. It all worked out the in the end though and after figuring out baking times in the gas oven and letting it cool for hours, we think we did ok. Our Cheesecake looks a little brown on the top but wow, was it yummy!

Mario made us supper tonight which was soooo yummy. It was a linguine with a shrimp sauce. OMG it was soooo good. Ivonne and I beheaded and peeled the shrimp which was kinda gross but good to learn how. After beheading the shrimp though, we just sat back, drank lots of wine and had a really good meal.

Between yesterday and today, the 3 of us polished off 3 bottles of wine. ;-} They have this wine out in stores for only one week every year. It is a special wine and is extremely yummy and really cheap so you can't go wrong. I have only 2 left though, so I think on Monday I should go back to the store and hope they still have some left. :)

What happens when a pizza and a laptop meet?

Yesterday was pretty uneventful but eventful all at the same time. It started out by me sleeping in until almost noon. :) In the afternoon I went out shopping for a bit but came up empty handed. I then decided if I couldn't find clothes that were going to fit me, I would go and by groceries so I could eat. Good thinking right? lol

Once back at home I was thirsty and so I finally decided to open this little bottle of lemonade that I had gotten from the eurochocolate festive a few weeks back. They were giving them out for free and I was waiting for just the right moment to drink my lemonade as you can't actually find that here. So, I cracked it open and took a big gulp, only to realize that it wasn't lemonade after all. It was Lemon juice! Yup, I chugged a big mouth full of lemon juice! Yummy...

I then decided to make a pizza for supper. Now normally this wouldn't be note worthy, however today it is. I had my pizza, nice and steaming hot on a plate which I took into my room. I usually eat in my room so that I can watch movies or some tv on my computer as I eat. Anyway, yesterday was no different. I needed to my move my computer back though a bit in order to have room for my plate. So I grabbed the computer with my free hand and started to move it back. Little did I realize though that I was tipping my other hand and then it happened. The Pizza went face first on to my open laptop! I panicked! I put the pizza back on the plate and set it on my bed and frantically started cleaning my computer up. As you can see though I am still using my computer but I am still a little worried about it as I believe a lot of greasy, cheesy, pesto goo got in under the keys and in the sides of my mouse button. It was not my finest hour. Is it just me or I have been really clumsy since I came to Italy? I didn't think I was this clumsy back home, but maybe I was?

Shortly after the pizza incident Ivonne and I decided to go see a movie. Once a week there is a theatre in town that plays movies in the original language. We both had talked about wanting to see Julie & Julia and lucky for us, it was playing yesterday. There is only one room at the theatre and it was definitely not like watching a movie back home. The chairs were comfortable but not meant for a theatre. There was no spot to hold your drink and they all had separate arm rests. It actually looked like they bought 100 arm chairs and just lined them all up together. They also had an intermission half way through the movie which was a little weird. You just getting into the movie and then they stop it on you. The movie turned out to be really good though, we both really enjoyed it.

Paris... My Final Day

I was lucky enough this morning to leave my suitcase at the hostel because I didn't need to be at the airport until 7pm. I decided that I wanted to go the Museum of Natural History and the Aquarium for fun things of the day. I made it to the museum with no problems but had some issues once I got inside.

Now, to this point I haven't really talked about the people of Paris but I feel I must before continuing my story. When I first arrived at my hostel, like I mentioned a bit on day 1, the staff was not very friendly. I have heard in the past that France french people can be very rude but I didn't believe it at first because I have had such a great experience with strangers in other countries and getting help when needed. Well, this was not the case in Paris. All of the rumours are true. They hate anyone who doesn't speak french... their french. In restaurants I tried to order something and they looked at me as if I was speaking Japanese. COME ON PEOPLE! It's 2009 and English is the universal language, learn it!!! Or, if you don't want to learn it, at least don't look at me with disgust when I try to use the 5 french words that I kinda sorta know in hopes that you will think its good that I am least trying to speak your language. Everyone turned there noises up at me and definitely had that I am better than you look on their faces. I was very unimpressed.

Anyway, continuing on. So I went up and bought my ticket to the museum and headed in. Well as soon as I entered I realized that nothing was written in English. Again, I was a little upset. I am not asking for every bit of info to be in English as I am well aware that I am in a French country, but every museum I have been to in every other country has at least had a title written in English beneath their own language so that us tourists can at least know what we are looking at. You know what I mean? So I asked the lady at the entrance if anything was written in English further in as I was really interested in learning something that morning. Nothing she says. So, the stubbornness in me came out a little and I asked for my money back. ;) Well, they were not impressed with this idea and had to call managers to discuss the thought of actually giving me back my money. lol After about 5-10min of them, what I can only assume was them cursing me in French, I was able to get my money back and I quietly left.

I felt a little uneasy after that but I headed back to the metro and found my way to the Aquarium. This experience was much better as even though there wasn't as much detail, things were labeled with small descriptions in English. I was able to see some cool looking fish, jellyfish, whales and many other cool things. They were also showing Blue Planet movies in one of the theaters which had English subtitles.

Once out of the Aquarium, which happened to be right beside the Eiffel tower ;) I grabbed a crepe for lunch and sat on a bench and just admired the view. Not 10min later however, a young boy ran up behind my bench and yelled something to his mom. I looked behind me and realized that I wasn't eating lunch alone. :{ there was a dead rat lying right behind my bench. EWWWW

After lunch I decided I should start heading back to the hostel to get my bag because I wasn't sure how long it was going to take me to get to the airport bus pick-up point. I ended up making there with only a small hiccup along the way. The metro line that I needed to take was closed for 3 stops so they directed us above ground and we had to take a city bus to our next stop. I figured it out though and made it to the airport bus stop by 5pm. Well, little did I know that they don't let you get on any bus (for some stupid reason). Instead, they make you wait, out in the cold with your bags for your exact bus, meaning the bus that was assigned for the Pisa flight leaving the airport. So, I waited until about 6:15pm before I was finally allowed to board one of the buses.

The ride to the airport was about an hour and 10min so once there I was a little rushed. Security was ridiculous! I have never seen it that bad in any airport ever. We had to go through 3 different check points with our passports and they almost make you strip down to your underwear in order to go through the security checker. They make you take off your jacket and anything else bulky, your belt, your shoes and then if your lucky you are allowed to continue on without the full body search! It was stupid. So by this point, I had kind of a rough day, I'm starving (It was after 8pm) and I had just basically been robbed of any type of dignity going through security. I stopped at the only lunch counter available and bought a microwave pasta dish and a coke for the low price of 13e. I ate it though and didn't complain one bit... It was actually one of the better meals I had while in Paris. Sad huh?

Once back in Pisa I ran to try to catch my bus because although Ryanair (the airline that I have been flying with) prides themselves on being on time, I have yet to be on time for one of my flights through them. sigh... So anyway, I ran to catch the bus because I only had 4min until it was scheduled to leave. Once there, they informed me that they were not leaving for 15 more min because the planes were late. UGH Ain't that the way it goes.

I arrived back in Florence about 12:50am and asked a taxi driver how much it would cost to get to my house (about a 2min drive). He told me 10e. Well by that point I was more than a little tired and grumpy and told him to forget it and I went to the bus stop. The bus that I was going to catch pulled up right on time (it was the last one of the night) and I was off. Then, luck be to me, the bus went in the opposite direction of my place. Last week they changed all of the bus routes and unless your a mind reader when you hop on the bus, you have no clue where you are going. I thought though that this one hadn't changed as it was a slightly different route than the others. So I got off on a random street and started walking home. By this point it was after 1am and because it was Halloween, there were tonnes of creepers dressed up in costumes wandering the streets. I walked/ran basically all the home with my suitcase and was very glad once I got inside my building. Lesson here??? Take the 10e cab next time. :{

So, was my trip a dream come true or a disappointment? To be honest, I have very mixed reviews on it. The Eiffel Tower to me was worth all of the crap that I had happen in the 3 days. Paris is a beautiful city filled with plenty of rich snobby Parisians but none the less, an extremely beautiful city. However, at night and in particular areas, it is very dirty, creepy and smelled really bad at times. Would I go back? YES! Most definitely. Next time however, I would go with someone that I wanted to share the beauty with and laugh at all the creepiness with.

Paris continued...

Day 2: Again this morning I was up and out of the hostel around 9am. I took the Metro to one of the buses pick-up points. I hopped on and headed on a new route to see a different part of Paris. I went past the Moulin Rouge and then decided to get off at a certain spot that was supposed to be very beautiful. So, to be truthful here, I never actually went up all the way to this beautiful spot. I got hungry and was getting really cold, so instead I stopped and had a bite to eat and a cappuccino to warm me up. I then decided to head back onto the bus and go back to the same route as yesterday because I had a few more places I wanted to go.

I got off at the Notre-Dame stop, took a couple of photo's of the cathedral and headed towards a flower market that is held every day near there. It was so pretty. I just wandered through the isles of flowers and trinkets and just enjoyed the view. I was at the last booth in this little market and I seen a kitty sleeping on a chair. I went up to her and she was Maggie! Well a Maggie look-a-like anyway. As corny as it sounds, it actually brought a tear to my ear.

After the flower market I hopped back on the bus and headed back to the Eiffel tower. I needed to see it again, just for fun. :) So, the bus was on its way back to the tower and we were stopped at a red light. Just then, I looked out of the bus window and I seen the most dreadful thing! I believe I seen a man die. I'm not even joking here either. I seen him fall to the ground and just lie their. It took someone almost 10seconds to go over to him and see if he was alright...which he obviously wasn't. Now, I can't guarantee that he died, but from what I saw, I think he is either in pretty rough shape right now, or he died. Either way, I was shocked and didn't really know what to say or think and then the light turned green and we headed on our way.

So, not even 20min later we were still making our way to the tower when we went through this round-about. They say its the biggest one in Europe (6 lanes). Anyway, so there we were, driving around it and I looked out my window again and there he was... my second dead guy of the day, and in less than 20min! He was totally covered in a sheet and was being put into the back of an ambulance. His Motorcycle was close by, which actually looked fine, but he did not. All I seen was feet and a bit of legs and that was it. Again, shock came over me and I didn't really know what to say. This time however, there was 2 teenage girls sitting behind me who both had a lot to say about the situation. :{

I finally made it to the tower without seeing anymore dead people (I thought 2 was enough in one day) and then just proceeded to enjoy the tower for awhile longer. After about an hour though, it was getting close to 6pm and I needed to head to the Louvre Museum. While at the museum I got to see the Mona Lisa and a few other famous paintings and sculptures. The Mona Lisa was very small and there was about 50 people crowding around it, but I managed to take a picture and take a fairly close look before I had to escape the crowds.

For supper that night I decided to just grab a pizza from the Pizza Hut that was around the corner from the hostel and take it back to my room to eat. All in all, a bit of a crazy day but neat at the same time.

Temp that day: a whopping 9 degrees...Brrrrr

Paris... A Dream or A Disappointment?

I arrived in Paris around 7pm on Wednesday night. I then needed to hop on the Metro and find my way to my hostel where I would be staying for the next 3 nights. When I got off at my stop I realized that I was, what I believe, was the "hood". It was pretty creepy looking. Lots of garbage and very dark and murderous.

I did make it there without to much trouble at all, which was very good. I checked into my room (which was co-ed btw) and I was lucky enough to be the first one in my room. The first night I ended up sharing with only one other girl. The second night though, when I got back to the room, there were already 2 people (girls) sleeping. When I woke up the next morning however, the 2 girls were actually guys and there was 4 of them in my room (the room slept 5). So, I got used to the fact that I was sharing a room with boys pretty quickly. The third night, it was me and 3 of the same guys as the night before so that was ok. All in all, the hostel itself was pretty clean but in a bad neighbourhood. The staff was always grumpy and the breakfasts were very small (a third of a baguette, butter and jam).

Day 1: I was out of the hostel and on my way by 9am. I was following the lead of my Paris day by day book that I had brought with me and so my first stop with this really big square. It was almost the center to everything it seemed as everywhere I went I needed to go either above ground through it or on the Metro below on it. I then walked through this gigantic park. It was actually pretty quiet still as it was only 10am at this point. I was wondering what to do next and then I spotted the hop on, hop off bus. I really wanted to take it around as I think they are the perfect way to see a city. So I bought a 2 day pass and climbed on up to the top of the bus. The other nice thing about them is that you learn quite a bit from listening to the pre-recorded message that plays as you go past all of the sites. This is where I caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel tower. It was soooo beautiful. I started taking pictures like a crazy person. lol I decided not to get off the bus just yet though and finish my first loop. On my second loop around on the same circuit, I got off on one of the main shopping streets. Looked around a lot but didn't really find anything. I hopped back on the bus and then this time, I did get off at the tower. It was only about 3:30pm but I thought I would get into line anyway and head on up to the top. Well the line took about 1.5 hours to get through before I made it into the tower to head to the top. The only bad thing about waiting in line was the people that walked up to the first floor of the tower thought it would be funny to spit down. Well it was disgusting. I can't even tell you that I was missed in this assault as it looked like it was raining. Ewwwwwww! Fortunately the line was moving just fast enough that I only got hit once (yup!). Others, were not so lucky. :{

The ride to the top was really fast but cool as the walls are glass so you can see whats going on around you. Once at the top, I took some photos and then just stopped and had a "WOW" moment. It was cool to be up there because I never imagined I would be. I always wanted to go but never thought I would so this was a really cool moment for me. By the time I made it down, the lights on the tower had already come on so I was able to see it at night which again, really beautiful.

After the Eiffel Tower, I decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper. I ended up having to wait an hour to get a table and didn't get seated until about 9:15ish. By the time I made it back to my room it was already 11 and there was people already sleeping so I just went to bed also.

As for the answer to my dream or disappointment question...stay tuned. ;)

Temp in Paris: 13ish, foggy and windy