Radio silence

Sorry for the radio silence again....hotel didn't have free wi-fi which I think is a travesty. So much money for no free wi-fi.....sucky. Anyway, since the last post we left Venice which was nice. The problem since last Saturday has been the rain. Its been raining every day (except today of course) and has made life interesting. This was the week that I got fat though for sure...i've easily gained at least 7-8lbs out here (i'm being generous)...its all the delicious pasta!!! Its ok I suppose, I am on vacation. I really do miss the gym and can't wait to get back to it.

We arrived in Rome to thunder storms. As I mentioned before, its been raining all week. My dad was very impressed with the Vatican....it really got to him when he saw John Paul II tomb; he nearly cried (I've never seen my dad cry....EVER). We spent all day in the Museum and the Basilica (which was awesome). Day 3 in Rome we just went around walking everywhere. We went to some stores, then to a restaurant and finally to drink some wine at some wine place. At night, I went off to a bar to catch the Champions League Final. I didn't care for either team but its always a good time. Met some pretty cool English fans (Man U fans unfortunately)...they were not impressed when I told them I was an Arsenal supporter. Oh well, you can't please every one. Anyway the game ended at midnight and we kept on with the festivities. The fans here go nuts when their team wins, definitely something different.

Thursday we went off to the coliseum. This was another site that my dad really wanted to see and he was quite pleased. Of course this was not without rain...another thunder storm!!! It was raining hard for a good hour; we found a shop and hung out in the door way. Finally we made our way to the coliseum; my father was very impressed and we spent a good hour just admiring in silence. In point of fact it was indeed awe inspiring...how many people died there? Just crazy when you think about it.

Well today is our last day here and its time to go home. We've enjoyed our stay but we do miss home...well at least I do. Thanks to all who kept up on the blog and for putting up with the radio silence. I will see you all soon. Ciao!

Day 8-9

Sorry, no pics this time because my hotel in Venice does not have Free wi-fi (17 euros for a day!!! thats like 24 bucks!) So I went around snapping pics as usual but its been raining the entire time here which is unfortunate since we will have spent a total of 2 days here. Tomorrow we head off to Rome where my Rome hotel also does not have free wi-fi but I have one more online final to take so ill have no choice but to bite the bullet (unless I can leech off some local in the apartments next to the hotel.....HEY! I had an unprotected connection KNOWINGLY for 3 years....its time that karma came back to me). Anyway, sorry for the short one...until next time!

Day 7

So went out and saw all of Barcelona today. First it was off to La Sagrada Familia. Work began in 1889 and they're still working on it! Crazy! Apparently all the money needed for construction is given by anonymous donations so the begin and halt work according to how much money has come in. I was not impressed with it this time around. Lots of it was closed off yet they were still charging about the same. Boo!

Next we were off to see the city. Apparently its nothing but aparments/condos here. They are all pretty nice though. They were mostly built during the modernismo movement and like I said, that's pretty much all you can find here. Once we were done with that, we took the tourist bus all over the city. its soooo big! Everyone uses scooters/bikes here. Even bicycles; there are over 100km worth of bike lanes. Imagine if we did that back home??? We'd all be skinny :( Anyway from there we stopped at Las Ramblas (really famous street here) where there was sooo much going on. It was packed with people! We finally stopped and had one of these (OK OK! I had 2...)


That's all for today. I'm tired and need to recharge before I head out tonight. See ya!

Day 5/6

Not much to say today...we had to check out of the hotel at 12 and our train didn't leave until 10pm. So we were left to go around Paris one last time. We went to all the little shops basically. The train ride was ok, but getting to the train station was nuts! We switched trains in Cerbere and are now finally in Barcelona. More pics tonight....they really like their bikes out here

Day 4

We went to Notre Dame today to check out the markeplace and buy souvenirs. I also had another crepe (chocolate one and it was divine). Lots of shops and Notre Dame ain't half bad either :)


After that, it was off to Champs Elysees where I bought my watch (yeah right!) and checked out some of the swankier stores. Apparently it is "forbidden" to take pictures inside the store and I got in trouble and subsequently kicked out (yep, that definitely improves the French's view of Americans). Oh well, I didn't want that Louis Vuitton wallet anyway.

The Arc d'Triumph is amazing. That is all. I can't really say much else about it. After that, we headed to dinner and finally got back to our rooms at 7pm or so. I went for a run at the park in front of the eiffel...nothing like the Eiffel's light show to keep you motivated and running. ok, that's all for now, i'm tired. Night!

Day 3 Part Deux

So after a 3 hour nap (life is so hard :) ) I dragged my parents out to the Eiffel. I explained to them that there is quite the show at midnight. So we went to the Eiffel and sure enough, that "show" gets me every time. We went off to a cafe at night and had a heineken and cheese...the cheese is soooo good. Yum. Anyway, here is the latest picture. Until next time!

So, we didn't really sleep on the plane because well...its a plane. We arrived at 8am on Sunday and couldn't check into the hotel until 2pm...yep. We were walking zombies. So we headed off to the eiffel (which btw was a block from our hotel) and had breakfast. My mom loved it! Then we zombied around the city a bit and we got our first American treatment......yep they still hate us here its confirmed! We took a nap in the park and finally headed back to the hotel at 1pm where they told us our room was ready. Woot!

We fell asleep at 2pm and didn't wake till 1opm. haha, there goes that day. I got up because I had to submit some homework online. finally finished at 1am local time and then went to sleep. The bad thing of the day: I used my USD education and bought the wrong type of euro power adapter. Yep I now had a 5lb dead laptop...and I thought I wasn't going to work out here! HA! Anyway, the receptionist (who is gorgeous) pointed me to a little shop down the street where I was able to buy an adapter for 4euro.

Today we went to the Louvre and spent most of the day there. What a beautiful museum. My dad fell in love with it and left my mom for the museum. She was not amused. :) Anyway, we went to Notre Dame after and there must have gone at the right time because we saw a fight occur right outside, and some French band come out and perform for free. We finally went back to the room and are now resting. Until next time!

Day 1

16:02 local time, Phily - So things have started off brightly. We landed one hour ahead of schedule and just ate. I had my first ever authentic philly cheese steak sandwich...however in my savage hunger I completely forgot to take a picture of it (just like a tourist..taking pictures of food *shakes head*). Anyway, we are here until 6:15 and then its off to Paris! woot!....ok some Spanish tourist just walked over to my dad and reached in and showed him how to use his HD camcorder..that was weird. Anyway, the first picture! (I think my dad is concerned over how bad the dollar is......). More later..