Friday, May 9, 2008

ITALY!!!!

This was by far, my biggest trip yet, I went to Italy for TWO weeks! It was absolutely fantastic! Pam, took me with her, I felt so lucky to be traveling with her, she planned the whole thing, and she speaks fluent Italian, and had many friends for us to visit, and stay with! The basic outline of the trip was....

Ragusa
Taormina
Naples
Pompeii
Rome
Florence
Venice
Brescia
Como
Switzerland
Milan




Ragusa! Pam served here on her mission. It is little really tiny little city, built in the hills of Sicily. It looked completely different than I thought Italy would look! I really fell in love with it. I am so determined to come back someday, I even got a card for a really pretty hotel there! You can sort of see the city behind our heads in the photo of me and Pam. I had massive allergy issues while I was there, but I was SO excited about being in a new place, that I just kept going and going along with Pam! Something else I really enjoyed seeing were these stairs I have heard Pam talk about for years! She used to tell us stories of needing to hike these stairs every day. There are SO many of them, they just keep going and going and going! Oh! and I got several Real Italian meals! that, was awesome! three cheers for good food!




We only briefly stopped in Taormina, and we only stayed the night in Naples (though we did take to morning to walk around and see it) so then on to Pompeii, an ancient Roman city, that has been preserved because of a massive Volcano eruption!!!! We got to see, perfect roads, mosaics, buildings, public toilets and much more! however, this definitely wasn't the end of the Roman ruins we saw while in Italy!




ROME! Is exactly what I thought Italy would look like, and SO different than Sicily, it is not hard to see why I was so surprised at what Sicily looked like! Rome, was beautiful, and I got to see things I have dreams for YEARS about seeing, but it was too chaotic for my taste! Here are photos of me at the Trevi Fountain, we are throwing our coins in, to insure our return to Rome again someday! Also, the Mouth of Truth from Roman Holiday! For those of you who havn't seen it, it is supposed to bite your hand off, if you are a liar! oops!

The COLOSSEUM!, I was So excited to see it, you can tell I am going a little crazy in the photo there I was absolutely ecstatic, that is, until we were told that we don't get the Student discount, because we aren't member of the EU!!! We were upset about that for a full 10 minuets!!!!
oh! and we almost got robbed in Rome! but that is a story to be told in person, so be sure to ask me about it ;)
:D we went to the top of that Dome, you see in the Basilica there, and it was SO packed at the top (I included a picture, that is the one with all the people in it), we couldn't move for almost 1/2 an hour! It was frustrating! but, obviously we made it down because then it was off to....








Florence, and Venice kinda seem really similar to me in my mind.... Though TOTALLY different, I loved both. Venice is for sure my favorite city on the main land. The city is totally pedestrianized, you aren't even allowed to have bikes there! but really, with the number of bridges you have to cross over to get anywhere any form of transportation except walking, isn't very practical! We did do a gondola ride, which cost almost 100 dollars! I found the city just as Romantic as it is made to seem in the movies :) I had no Idiea that it was as bautiful as it was though. I felt like there was something pretty to take a picture of around EVERY corner! I couldn't put the camera away, as a result, everywhere I went I was blatantly screaming "I am a tourist!!!" with how many pictures I took! Venice is a lot like a maze, because maps were almost useless, because it took you too long to figure out WHERE you were, before you could finally decide which way to go! Seriously? you could have some sort of MASSIVE hide and seek game there, it was fantastic! In this picture I am feeding the pigeons! How fun is that? I really got a kick out of that, and it was only a Euro!


Next was Bresica! Then Como, where George Clooney lives! and no, we didn't see him, but we heard about him, and saw picture of him everywhere! Como, was very relaxing, just what we needs after way too much walking, and stress in too little of a time..... Como, sits right on the edge of Lake Como, and everything about it, is idealistic.... we actually drove into Switzerland for an afternoon, to see one of Pam's Friends! I got to see the Alps! They are the BEST mountains I have seen, since the last time I was in Salt Lake!


It was then off to home! well, sort of... On the way back, I got to see both sides of the English Chanel from the Plane window, which probably shouldn't have made me as excited as it did.... :D, but oh well!
So, there is Italy in a nutshell! Isn't it obvious that there is so much more I haven't told? I wish I could add about 5 times the pictures as well!
Until next time!



Thursday, May 8, 2008

March and April......oops :D

Hi my many (or not so many) family, friends, and fans......

So here is the idea for today's post. It has been MUCH too long since I updated, and I personally feel that I have a very good excuse..... :D but I am going to write a sentence about everyplace I have gone to since Wales, and then add just a few pictures..... sorry for the lack in updates.

My friend took me to see the "Monkey Forest" a sort of smallish zoo, that focused on a certain breed of monkey. It was amazing, there were monkeys everywhere and they would come adn sit down next to you, or walk along the path with you!!!
I then went to London, for one day to see Wicked with my friend Pam again. Wicked was fantastic, and London was beautiful, I really do love that city, even through the grime.....

Belgium was my next stop, random I know...My friend Lizzie, offered to take us (me and Kim) with her, as her dad was driving there to do business. I loved it, we got to take a ferry across the Chanel, an experience I didn't think I would get!!! Beautiful city, My favorite was the battlegrounds we visited, Ypres, and Waterloo!!!!!

Then to York for Easter! Sam invited me there way back in the beginning.... It snowed on Easter day! we were all positive that Mother Nature forgot WHICH holiday it was! Mistook it for Christmas, oh well close enough :). York is beautiful, and I now know exactly why Sam is so in love with that city. With it's Roman walls, the Shambles, and the Minster.... I was very pleased with our visit.

After that, my very good friend Matt came to see me, and we went to Warwick Castle! I quite enjoyed that, but even more, I liked Warwick city center, very "traditional" English, It is kinda what you imagine England to be like, even when you know in the back of you head that it MUST be more modern......oh, I am probably being confusing now.....

Then Bath!!! I just finished reading Persuasion, and we stayed in the White Hart Inn, that is mentioned in that book! How COOL is that?!?!? Bath, was gorgeous! I love that little city, My favorite was one night, we went looking for a place to see the lights from above (Bath is in a valley of sorts) and we found this little staircase leading to the PERFECT viewing place, all the churches all lit up and all the twinkling light.... it was to die for... Oh, and we also say Stonehenge while in Bath! Cool!!!!

Then London again, to show it to Matt, we also went and saw Le Mis! awesome!

After all that, I finally went home to recover! hahaha, but only for 3 days, and I was off to London AGAIN! I spent a week there with Pam, and then she and I went to ITALY!!!!!

OK, this is already a ridiculously long post, and Italy deserves SO much more time! I just might need to come back!!! dare I say it? I promise that it will be up in the next few days! Please check again soon!

Until Next Time, and more detail then, I promise!

I love to hear from ANYONE! after all this craziness, my life has taken a somewhat boring spell, so I am all up for writing emails to people!

Kara