San Felice - A Small Beach Town in Italy

Friday, April 25

In the morning we took a train to Latina, the closest place to Sabaudia (where we thought our beach hotel was). I had found online that there was a bus that went from the train station to the town, but when we got to Latina, nobody spoke English and there were no busses to San Felice (the town next to Sabaudia where our hotel actually was). We ended up having to use our translator app to tell a taxi driver where we needed to go and took a very expensive ride through the Italian country side. It was painful to spend that much money on a taxi, but I am so glad we got where we needed to go safely.
After arriving at our hotel we walked along the beach and checked into our hotel. The staff upgraded us from a Park-view room to a Sea-view room. It was very nice of them. We also ended up with a balcony. We wandered around the town, got some gelato and pizza for dinner and just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Saturday, April 26

We slept in a little then went to the beach. The water was too cold to swim, but the sun was warm and our hotel had lounge chairs out on the beach for the guests. It was amazing to be lazy and read my book. It seemed unreal that I was on vacation in Italy!

Sunday, April 27

It rained… We took that as an opportunity to lay in bed, watch programs and read our books all day. It sucked that we couldn't go to the beach, but hey, after a crazy week of travel, it was good to rest in a comfy bed. For dinner we went to the beach restaurant to get a pizza and while we were waiting for it we walked along the ocean because it had stopped raining. Then Erin dared me to run into the sea, and so I did it. The people who worked at the restaurant thought I was crazy, but hey, I never know when I’ll have the chance to go into the Mediterranean again!

Monday, April 28

The hotel staff was super nice and when they went on their morning newspaper run, they also bought our bus tickets to Rome for that day. That meant we got to sleep in a little bit longer before having to leave. The bus ride was… Interesting. The bus had seen much better days and the Italian roads are full of potholes making it a very bumpy ride. We made it to Rome though and took the Metro to the station closest to our hostel.

Venezia

Wednesday, April 23

We woke up at 1am. Yes. 1am. We had to check out of the hostel, catch a city bus to the coach station, a coach to the airport and then a plane to Venice. After lots of travel and lots of naps in weird places, we were in Venice by 9:30. Then we had to take another bus to Mestre, the city next to Venice we were staying in. We walked to our Hotel and it turned out to be really nice! If you are going to Venice anytime soon, stay in Hotel Guidi. The staff speak English and its only a 10 minute bus ride to the center of Venice.

After finding food, we took a nap during Siesta time – pretty much everything in Venice closes from 1 – 3:30 so the workers can go home, eat and rest. I don’t know what in the world America is thinking, but I wouldn’t complain a bit if I was told to go home and nap!

We went into Venice in the afternoon and just wandered around exploring. It was so warm compared to England. The sun combined with 70 degree weather made me put on a skirt and a tshirt. It was a very welcome change. I really do prefer the warm weather.

 

We found strawberries, kiwi and paninis for dinner and it was such a good decision. The fruit here is so fresh and so sweet. We called it an early night and watched Eat, Pray, Love while eating dinner.

Thursday, April 24

The hotel had breakfast for us and that was a nice change. We had some pastries and yogurt before heading off for the day. We walked all the way across the city to San Marco Piazza so I could climb the Clock Tower. (After climbing St. Paul’s and Arthurs’ Seat, I have decided I want to climb as many things as I can on my travels!) When we got there we found out you can only take the elevator up. I was pretty disappointed, but I’m sure Erin was cheering on the inside. The view from the top was amazing. You could see the whole city! We happened to be up there when noon hit so we got to see the bells in action! It was really neat.

We went in search of Calzones once we made it to the bottom. That calzone was so good. Erin and I both agreed that we will never be able to eat an American Calzone again. We took a WaterBus back up the Grand Canal. As was the rest of the city, it was extremely beautiful. We got some more Strawberries, then went back to Mestre to rest.

Then we went out into Mestre to get pizza for dinner and to see how far away the train station was because we needed to go there the next morning to go south.

So far, Italy has been great. More people speak English than you would think, and it’s amazing how much you can understand from context clues. Currently it is Friday the 25^th and I am sitting on our train to Sabaudia. I am so glad we have almost a week left because I don’t want to leave just yet! (And I don’t want to have to go back to school to work on essays)

The Making of Harry Potter

Tuesday, April 22

The studios where the Harry Potter movies were filmed is right on the outskirts of London. And since all the movies have been made and they needed a reason to make even more money, they opened the studios so people could come and tour them. I must say, I was over the moon excited to see it all. It was such an AMAZING experience. Harry Potter has been such a huge part of my life and being able to see all the behind the scenes information was so interesting. We got to walk on sets, see the actual costumes and learn about how they did some of the special effects. So much thought and detail went into the making of the movies. The amount of people working behind the scenes was unreal. Going to the studios certainly is one of my highlights of Europe so far.

After the tour we went back into London and went to London Bridge and Tower Bridge to take pictures and find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at a Japanese place called Wagamama before heading back to the hostel to pack up and get some rest before we started our journey to Venice.

Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath

Monday, April 21

Erin and I had bought tickets for a tour of Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath so we could see multiple places and not have to worry about transport to these places. Stonehenge is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Our Coach bus was double decker! I had never seen something like that before. It was a very nice bus. Our tour guide, Nigel, told us facts about London on our way out and I found that really interesting. When we made it to Windsor Castle (built 900+ years ago), he told us that somebody once asked him why they built the castle so close to Heathrow Airport…

We got an audio guide for Windsor and I found that really interesting. My favourite part was seeing the very intricate dollhouse they had on display. I finally saw some the British Soldiers in the red coats! But I didn’t see the Queen. Darn.

Stonehenge was amazing. I was so excited to see it. It intrigues me to no end. I want to know why it’s there and how in the world it got there!!! 

We ate lunch in a pub in a small village between Stonehenge and Bath. I had fish and chips and it was very good. I feel like almost all the food I have here in Europe is good. Ha.

Bath was a cute town, but Erin and I couldn’t figure out why it was a part of our tour because we didn’t get entry to the Roman Baths and since it was 5:00 when we arrived, the majorty of the shops were closing. We did find one crafts/antiques shop we could go into and I found something amazing! A piece of green Wedgewood pottery. I have always loved Wedgewood, the fact that Keele is so close to the Wedgewood factory makes me love it even more. It is really rare in the states so when you do find some, it costs the earth. I was very happy to see that this dish was a reasonable price!

All in all, the tour was nice, we got to see quite a bit in one day, however, as Erin said – it felt like a big field trip. I think that if there had been more college aged people on the trip we would have had a bit more fun.

Easter Weekend in London

Friday, April 18

We arrived in London really late on Good Friday and ended up having to take a taxi from the coach station to the Hostel since the tube had stopped running. This was the same hostel I stayed at in February, but we ended up getting a much nicer room! We went to sleep soon after arriving so we could rest up before a busy Saturday in the city.

Saturday, April 19

You can't go to London and not take a picture of the "Mind the Gap" signs!

Saturday morning we went to a discount ticket kiosk to see if we could get tickets for any of the shows going on that night. We ended up getting the five of the last 9 tickets for Wicked! We were very lucky. We went on to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace (Much prettier with all the tulips out front) and Big Ben to take pictures since it was Erin’s first time in London. Then we went to Oxford Circus and Covent Garden to go to the Apple Store and we also looked around in some shops before heading to Victoria to meet up with everybody for dinner before Wicked. We decided to meet at Nando’s, and Erin and I got there and sat and sat until Kat called saying we were late. We were at two different Nando’s only 5 minutes away from each other! What are the chances!

Big Ben!

Buckingham Palace with tons of tulips!

We went to Wicked and it was SO good. The actors were so talented. And the sets were so intricate! I would love to be able to see some more shows sometime!

Sunday, April 20

For Easter we went to Hillsong Church. Since we love their Worship music so much we were really looking forward to it. Even though it was grey and rainy. While the worship was really nice, they didn’t do a normal preach, they showed a play that was… different. It wasn’t what we expected, but we are still glad we went.

For lunch we went to Camden Market. It was raining pretty hard, but we found a mostly covered area and got some really delicious Turkish Wraps before looking around at all the stalls. I love Camden, its such huge market, I feel like you could go every day for a week and still find new treasures!

On the way back to the Hostel we got SOAKED. I must say it wasn’t very enjoyable.

We made it an early night because Erin and I were going to Stonehenge early the next morning.

Tower Bridge

 

Making a Negative Experience Postive - Broken Cell Phone

Imagine:

Day one in London.

Go to plug my iPhone in and nothing happens.

Switch chargers.

Nothing happens.

Realize that something is wrong with my phone.

Minor panic sets in.

Then I remembered Apples stores are in London.

Then I realized I can survive without my phone.

I did stop by the Apple store today for an official diagnosis, and yes, the charger port is broken. It’s still under warranty, but there is nothing they can do for me really because it’s an American phone, not a UK one. Apparently there is a difference. I could have paid a ton of money to have one shipped from America before I leave London on Wednesday, but I definitely didn’t see how that would be worth it. When I’m not on wifi the only thing I used it for was maps. I had some maps downloaded and even without service it would show my gps location. But hey, paper maps work just fine!

It is a little tough when we do go into coffee shops with wifi and my friends all have their phones out, but Erin is letting me use hers to let my parents now how I’m doing every time we connect. It is sad that I won’t be able to text people directly to their phones. But luckily I have my tablet and I can still connect with Facebook.

In the past I have been too reliant on my technology and I want to use this unfortunate occurrence not only to help me make a better effort on focusing on this experience and these memories, but also to help me find a better balance between my technological life and life that is happening all around me every second.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

On Saturday the 12^th, I went to Belfast, Northern Ireland with The University of Ulster where Erin is going to school. It was really nice of them to let me tag along on the trip even though I don’t go here. We started the day off at the Titanic Museum. Did you know the Titanic was built in Belfast? I didn’t! The Museum is built right on the shipyard where the Titanic was built! The museum was so neat and really interactive and modern! I really learned a lot. There was a short ride that told you about how the ship was built and really put the size of the ship into perspective! We also saw some footage of the ship wreck at the bottom of the ocean. Submarines really freak me out, but I would maybe, just maybe, go down in one if I had the chance to see the wreckage in person. It is so astounding to see how much of it is preserved!

View from the Museum

After the museum we went to lunch at the Ramada, which was also included in the price of the trip. I had a spinach and mushroom pasta which was super yummy. After lunch we got back on the bus for a tour of Belfast. I wish I could say it was really interesting… But… It wasn’t… The bus was warm. Our bellies were full. Quite a few of us dozed off here and there. Oops

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Then we got to explore the city center of Belfast. We didn’t have a ton of time, but we got cupcakes AND I found some Reese’s Cups! That was pretty exciting! I really liked Belfast and I hope I have more time to explore the next time I go!