Nice is Nice ;)

Oh we made nice Nice jokes way too much! It was always still funny, though. The location of our apartment here was so perfect! It was literally ten steps away from a restaurant featured in the NY Times, so of course we had to eat there! We had about a 5 minute stroll to the beach, during which we passed little shops and eateries. We were about a 3 minute walk away from what was a flower and herb market during the day (smelled amazing!) and a market at night with jewelry and pottery and paintings. Also from around 11:30 am to 1:30 am, there were restaurants lining the market street. They had their menus enlarged, so that you could walk by and look at the menu before sitting down. When these places weren't open, they stack all of the tables and chairs and put them into the restaurant. Nobody eats in there, the place just stores the furniture, and has the kitchen. Just that street alone was an experience. We really took it easy in Nice. We walked around, shopped, ate yummy food, and enjoyed the view. I got a super cute floppy beach hat, something I really wanted... at H&M, of course! We also spent a lot of our time trying to figure out our shower situation, the one downside to the apartment. It was either freeeeeeezing cold and running, or dripping and luke warm. This made things interesting. We spent a lot of time just walking around the city. We just loved to walk and chat with each other about everything and nothing at all. These girls are truly wonderful!

The beach was beautiful and full of people. The beach in Nice had rocks/pebbles instead of sand. This isn't the grandest thing to lay out on, but you can move the pebbles a little. It really gets tough, however, when you go to get in the water. Sand is much nicer to bare feet than pebbles are. They hurt if you don't go extremely slow. Once you get in, you're in the Mediterranean!!! :) It is quite amazing if you can get used to the freezing cold water and the amount of salt... which inevitably gets into your mouth.

Our second day at the beach we got in again, and the waves were quite strong. Even just walking in, I was mauled by the waves and ended up on my back, feet flailing before I even started to swim. Once we were done and ready to go lay out some more, the waves had gotten particularly large. So Em had the great idea to body surf our way in. The first wave came and it was so much fun! I don't really remember all that happened next, all I know is that I decided the first wave was fun, so I would body surf another... This landed me onto the grand pebbles and then drug me down, as I struggled to get up, another came, and another, and I was tossed around in the Mediterranean Sea for all to see how ridiculous I looked. It was actually really scary at one point, but I wont go into it all. Eventually I saw Katie within crawling distance from me, so I crawled to her and grabbed her hand, and she helped me. The other girls apparently all had some difficulties as well. After we were done soaking in the sun, we walked around and made sure I was good to go for my departure to the states, and the girls were good for their train to Interlaken. We had decided to get take out pizza and wine for dinner and to stay in the apartment and have our own party. If you know us, you can only imagine what this was like! :) We stopped to get a crepe, then Katie and Em went back to shower, and Ash and I went to search for key chains in the market. I also wanted to spend my euros! The exchange rate is horrible, and I was leaving the next day... I basically had no choice but to spend my money ;) We went into some cute shops, all just initially for key chains that kept being extremely overpriced and still not that cute. I got some adorable souvenirs and so did Ash.

My last night was so perfect. Great pizza and wine, even better company. We read a good book aloud and laughed until our tummys ached. We all made sure our bags were packed and I set my alarm... :(

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The next day was scheduled to be filled with trains. Our first one leaving Barcelona at 8:45 am, and a few trains later, entering Nice at 12:04 am. A full day of traveling ahead. A really, I mean REALLY creepy guy sat in front of Katie and I (it was the kind of seats where 4 face each other) and I am fully confident that he was taking pictures of us on his phone. He tried to talk to us, but we pretended not to understand even his attempt at English, especially when he asked for our names. The next stop was Montpellier, where we were scheduled to have about a 6 hour layover. We knew there was a train to Marsielle (our next stop) in two hours, so Em and I went to see if we could catch that one instead. We found out that we could get on that train if there was enough room, so we ate really quickly and as soon as the platform was announced, we were there! Our second train couldn't have been much worse. There was no air conditioning, and our car only had one window that slightly opened. All of the seats were in sets of 4, so we sat facing each other with little leg room. At least we weren't with creepy guys again. The last train went well, and we got to the apartment safe and sound. The guy showed us around the entire thing, much of which we could have figured out. He showed us how to turn the TV on, then off, and then on and off again. Also the volume and channels with the + and - buttons ;) He was sweet. Once he left, we went to find food! And get nutella crepes :) YUM YUM

Twinkle, Ladies!

Our next day in Barcelona, we had planned to go to the Picasso Museum, until we realized it was closed :( Bummer! So we decided to do a little shopping. Well, we walked up and down the road with H&M on it (right by our hostel) but all of the stores were closed. But it was a Monday?! JJ had told us on the tour that they have 32 holidays just for Saints in Barcelona, so we thought this was probably one of them.

Then we walked down Las Ramblas towards the beach. This in itself was an experience. We has to be sure and 'twinkle' the whole time. I am sure you are wondering what I mean by that. At the beginning of the trip we decided that we needed a code word that meant that we needed to either check our purse for all important documents and belongings, or hold it tight to you and be aware. We decided on the word 'twinkle', it worked quite nicely! If we were leaving the hostel, it meant to check your bag, if we were in a crowd, it meant to hold it. This was people didn't know what we were talking about ;) I know it, we're sneaky. All down the street they have tons of shops, and people dressed up in wierd costumes. Like they went allllll out! These crazy people looked like they were made of gold or silver, or whatever they had painted themselves. This is commonly used as a distraction for pick-pocketing. Ash and I bought our Barcelona key chains and then headed to the beach. We had to go the long way around to the beach, but we ended up coming out right by the restaurant that we were looking for! Em and I were unable to get our initial choices on the menu, so we all got mixed paella, but it was still great! Then we found a spot to sit on the beach. I ended up laying down in the sand, and fell asleep. It was kind of obvious, because I did that jumpy thing that happens when you have a dream where you fall down, so your body jerks a little and you wake up. It was a great little nap in the sun, though.

We decided to stop by the train station on our way back to the hostel, so that we could double check our route to Nice for in the morning. This is where it got complicating... and frustrating. One of the trains that we needed was completely booked, so for a long time we thought that we were going to have to leave a day later from Barcelona, which would make us pay an extra night there, and still pay for that same night in Nice. Luckily, Katie had found a different set of trains earlier that morning that would get us there, just later. So we asked the train station lady (who was SOOOOO great with us) to just double check to see if that route would work. We eneded up being able to make a reservation for 2 of the 4 trains on that route(only 2 required them), and were set to go. Huge relief! We went to our hostel and then went to the rooftop terrace and had some sangria and paprika pringles. We came back to our room to get ready to go out, but then we all ended up asleep. We were so tired!

Insert into Rome to Barcelona Post...

You know the white cardigan I told you about? Well, when I went to put it on while we were flying, I realized that it was in fact NOT mine (well, my sisters- lol) This one has long sleeves, and was some brand I had never heard of. Now I had some random Canadian womans cardigan... luckily Vickie wasn't too upset! :)

Oh no... I think these are the little fish?!

Once we got in to Barcelona, we walked to our hostel and got checked in. The location was amazing! The hostel itself... eh, not so much. The hostels that we stayed in before this were quite nice. We always book private rooms, so don't get the impression we are staying with creepy guys. Here we had just enough room in our room to walk in and to the bathroom. We had bunk beds with camp-like mattresses. We had to rent our towels and sheets and pillow cases. Our bathroom was big enough for one person to walk in and touch each wall. The shower knob had to be continually pushed back in because it would go off automatically after a minute or two. At least we had our own bathroom...

Once we set down our stuff we set out to find a late dinner. We knew we wanted to try paella, so we found a restaurant down the road, looked at the menu and decided to stay. It was nice, but we were oh so tired. I got seafood paella and it was yummy. Except the crawfish was whole and staring at me, so I let Katie eat it. We finished and then waited about 30 minutes for the check as usual, then we went to our humble abode and crashed.

The next morning Ash and I woke up with bites, which at the time I refused to believe were bed bugs, but now accept the fact that they probably were :( We ate breakfast in the common room which played rap at an annoyingly loud volume, then we set out for our favorite: Fat Tire Bike Tour!! YAY! I love these bike tours, even though I am too short for the bikes... even with the seat all the way down. We toured the city, saw La Sagrada Familia, and some other cool things that I don't remember off of the top of my head. Then we headed to the beach for lunch. While practicing my pro bike riding skills, a lady stepped in front of me (i have witnesses) and I swerved only to hit her a little with the handle. She yelled at me in catalan (the language they speak), and I said I was so sorry. Language barrier... oops! That was my first mishap of the day. Later when we were sitting down on the beach about to eat our spanish ham sandwiches and drink our amazing sangria, I asked Emily to take a picture of me while I 'pretend' to drink out of the pitcher of sangria. Well, my pretending didn't work out so well and the wine ended up all over my khaki shorts. Whoop! Needless to say, those were thrown away later.

After our town we made the hike up to Park Guell. One of Gaudi's creations. It was beautiful up there. The mosaics were so ornate, and the atmosphere was really fun! There was a reggae band that was really good and lots of people just hanging out. Once we were done walking around there, we rewarded ourselves with some mint chocolate chip ice cream- yummy! Then we went back to the hostel to get ready to go see the fountain of magic and get dinner.

We watched 30 minutes of the fountain changing colors and patterns a little, thought it was over and almost left when the actual show started and they added music! After we watched what we later assumed was the warm up, we were a little disappointed, but the real thing was so beautiful! When that was over, we took the metro to an area of town that our bike tour guide, JJ, suggested, to get some food. After pacing back and forth in front of this tapas restaurant he suggested, we finally decided to go in, even though we were clearly the only tourists. We ordered 6 tapas to share, things like shrimp, potato omlet, fried little fish, spinach, chicken wings, and some other meat dish. When they brought them to us, they said they didnt have shrimp or spinach, so we just decided we would deal with the 4. While Katie, Em and I listened to the waiter, Ash had already popped some food into her mouth. As the waiter walked away, she said, "Oh no, I think these are the little fish!" Right as she said this, I looked down at what initially looked like fried green beans or something, and all I saw were beady eyes. Ha! We assumed we were ordering fish sticks, not a whole fish fried. The poor girls beside us must have been so annoyed with us, because we didn't stop laughing for a long time. Then they also kept having to translate stuff for us. They were nice, though. Once she informed us that we had to go to the front to pay, we did and then made our way back home to bed... laughing more, or course!

Rome to Barcelona

The day we left Rome, our apartment was double booked. The next people got there while we were still there, so that made for an interesting little bit. We left our backpacks and they set down their luggage because we all had to be out of the apt so that the cleaners could come. (don't worry, we had locks on our backpacks) We ate at a little restaurant that overlooked the Colosseum. It was a beautiful view. After Ash and I went to get our keychains (we've collected through each city), then we went back to the apt to get our trusty ol backpacks and catch our cab to the airport to Barcelona. When I went to get my stuff, my white cardigan wasn't on my bag anymore. I asked the apt lady and she brought me one from the other room. I guess the cleaning lady had moved it. On to the airport we go!

Ha! This is one of the greatest parts... so while checking in, Katie reads that your bags can onlt weigh 10 kg, about 22 lbs. So before we leave Rome, Katie and Ash buy these cheap 5 euro bags to put extra stuff in and use as their carry on. I figured my backpack would still be okay, and Emily thought she was pretty close and just brought an extra plastic shopping bag.

So we get to the airport in plenty of time to rearrange our bags. We use the scale so that we can see how much weight needs to be moved around. My bag was fine (great packer, I know- jk), but the other girls- especially Katie- were transferring clothes and shoes and anything that they could to the other bag, while running back and forth to the scale to see if they were under 10 kg. Finally we got it... now we can check in! :)

Hehe... so we get in line for check in, and Katie reads a sign only about the carry on needing to be under 10 kg. Then we see people in front of us checking baggage that weighed way more than 10 kg. Feel free to laugh, this was hilarious! Still is, actually! We sent them through like they were still, we didn't feel like repacking yet again. We grabbed a Coca Cola Light (a very expensive commodity over there, but oh so yummy!) and waited to board the plane. Once we got on we were able to all sit together. Our little Spaniard friends, however, who must have been in Rome for the Manchester vs. Barcelona game and were on a high because their team won, decided to scatter themselves across the entire plane, but STILL talk/shout/yell to eachother the entire flight. Too bad we count on our transits for little naps to help keep us going...

We landed safely, and had to take a bus from the airport to the center of Barcelona. The ride was about an hour after we caught the bus. It was getting late and we were tired, but we always enjoy entering a new city! :)

The shortest and fastest update ever!!

So right now I am in Rome! We are going to eat dinner in a few minutes, but Iàll give a quick recap.

Prague was absolutely amazing! I had heard from people that it was supposed to be pretty, no... that does not even describe! We walked through the Jewish Quarter, saw the Prague Castle, walked on the Charles Bridge (a must), and ate at a restaurant overlooking all of Prague and then some!

Munich was great too. We went to Dachau Concentration camp. I cannot write enough about the emotions that I had there. Most of all a huge amount of respect and wanting to thank my Grandad for his time in the service. He is an amazing man, as are all of the veterans for their sacrifice. We went on a bike tour and had to end up riding back through the entire city in pouring down rain, horrible... but kinda fun and exciting at the same time! :) We also ate at the Hofbrahaus.

Florence was nice and chill. I saw the Duomo, went to the market and best of all saw The David! Awesome! :)

Oh Castiglion Fiorentino! We went to the A&M study center, sw the amazing view from it that overlooks Tuscany, ate some great gellato, and had good food. OH and had a cute cute cute apartment :) And walked up crazy steep and long hills. We are so hardcore, you never knew girls like us could do the things weve done here ,)

On to Rome! Colloseum, Vatican City, the Baths, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon! I am walking in the midst of such great history. To think that these things were made without machinces-hah! We have an adorable apartment again and are about to go to dinner. We had the best dinner ever last night at Felices, the best Trattoria in Rome! Becca leaves in the morning :( We are all so sad. We are all healthy and loving this trip! Thank you again for your prayers, we are thinking and praying for you often!!!

p.s. excuse all of the incorrect grammar and what not, im using some crazy keyboard!