http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ChelseaandRebecka/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ChelseaandRebecka en-us Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:27:18 +0000 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:27:18 +0000 I went to St Peters Basilica and the Vatican today. It was very crowded but worth it. I highly recommend going early so it is less crowded but no matter what time you go there are going to be crowds. At the Basilica they have guys dressed in dark suits who are enforcers and they dont mess around. Their job is to keep you in line and respecting when you can and cannot take pictures that you are ap http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-419187.html July 11thWell if the train ride to Rome is any indication of how I will like it then Im off to a good start. I met a Fryer from the Francescian order and we talk all about his interesting life and about how his order came to be. As it happens St. Francis of Assisi started their order and Assisi is only 30 minutes from Perugia. In fact I was going to go there but got side tracked by the Jazz Festi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-417461.html July 9thI desided not to take up the girl from the conferences offer to take me down to Spolleto and the coast line. As much as it was tempting and I may even regret it later I really wanted to forge my own ground and discover Italy on my own terms. For better or worse this is my trip my way.Perugia has vary little tourism compared to other cities Ive been to in Italy. This is great because I get http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-417248.html I always find it fasinating to learn how different people experience the world because each person lives such different realities kind of like the blid men and the elephant. On the train ride to Pisa I sat with 2 girls from Sweden. They were backpacking across Europe as a high school graduation gift to themselves and to avoid the question What are you going to do with the rest of youre life. Af http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-416198.html So I desided to give Florence another try and instead of going to Volterra I stayed in Florence on Sunday and walked around. The thing about Florence is that you have got to be willing to get lost because it the only way to fined something really cool in the city. Sound weired It did to me too until I got to talking to other people in the hostel and found out that it was not just me. The signs re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-416176.html My first impressions of Forence have not been good. I was warned that in Italy it was organized chaous and it is but some how it always works out. For example there are very few traffic light and no four way stops so cars people just go when they find an opening and it seems to work at lest it did in Turin. In Forence there is very little street signs and the map that the tourist office made me p http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-415083.html I was told that Turin had the largest exibit out side of Rome and since I was unsure if my time andor budget would allow a visit in Rome I went here instead. It was OK but I expected it to be better especially considering the price compared to what I was paying to see stuff in France. Im glad I went though. It was cool to see all the items they had. There was a lot of scrolls from the book of the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Piedmont/Turin/blog-415294.html I was very lucky when staying in Turin because I was on the top level and could look out the window and see the Mountians in the background. On top of this the place I stayed was by a school of music and wonderful music drifted in the widow from the time I woke up to the time I fell a sleep. I could also do a lot of people watching from the widow well when ever it was not being occuppied by someo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414838.html On the last full day of my workshop we were treated to a tour. I choose the farm nitrogen tour and got to visit a dairy farm and a field trial site.The average farm in Italy is very small only 9.5 hectars and their growing season is year round. For these reasons farming is very intense. We were told that dairy farmers make almost nothing when they sell their milk but the farmers we visited had goo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Piedmont/Turin/blog-414834.html I spent the day walking in Paris and boy are my feet tired I planned on only visiting Musee du Louvre and then walking around downtown to see the remainning sight from the street as my budget is pretty limited on this trip and Europe is very expensive but One of the people I was visiting in Versailles highly recommened that I see Musee D'Orsay so I did. Unsuprisingly being that he was a local h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-414142.html Home to King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. This place was unblievable. I didn't even make it into the palace. The Gardens alone took me half the day. For those of you who find yourselves lucky enought to see the gardens and are on a time budget I would recommened stiking to the left side and center. The right side had something happen right when facing down to the channel a few years ago and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Versailles/blog-412878.html Rothamsted Research Station is located in Harpenden which I am told is the richest area of England. Stars such as Tom Cruz and Nicol Kidmann have lived here but I didnt see anyone but scientist and a lot of expensive cars while I was here. For those of you who not into plants Rothamsted is the sit of the worlds longest running field trials and the birth place of fertilizers. As a plant molecula http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Hertfordshire/Harpenden/blog-412648.html So the plane ride was painful. I thought my knees were going to be perminately stuck in a sitting posion. But it was a much more enjoy able ride then the last time I came acroos because it was winter the last time so there was nothing to see. This time it was the the day after the summer solicice and I got the midnight sun for the whole trip. The Hutsons Bay was cool to see but Iceland was covered http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-412633.html Well today is our last day and we only have a few hours left till we have to go to the airport The last night in Holbox after leaving the internet cafe it was raining so we stumbled our way back in the dark and I happened to see something zoomleap by my foot so i looked down and it was the littlest frog i have ever seen it was soo adorable And they were everywere leaping into puddles and zo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Cancun/blog-300028.html We can.t talk long since there is an eletrical stormmom thinks starting so this will be shortish and cause I am to lazy to save and add more later.. Well mabye.We swam with the whale shark today and that was the funnest both of us agree that holbox is our favorite place by far. Even the place we are staying is not so hot at night cause it really doesnt have walls unless you count bug netting a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Isla-Holbox/blog-299367.html The pictures of our 5 day spent in playa del carman http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Playa-del-Carmen/blog-298934.html different hostel different feel and a different keyboard I think this one is a french keyboard where most the letters are in the wrong place and just when i got used to the mexican one oh boy. speaking of french keyboards this hostel everyone seems to be french and most thought we were till they got some blank looks when they are talking to us. this place is not really a hostel it more like a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Playa-del-Carmen/blog-297759.html Well now what can we say about Tulum First hostel experience that i can tell you. Its interestingto be crammed into a room with 12 other people. Man and Female alike and have only 3 fans for the room..in mexican weather... Oh boy but its interesting and all so I dont mind it. Alreadywe havemeet so people.Anyways so we went to coba not that was fun. I think I like Coba better then Uxmal th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Tulum/blog-296268.html Today we were supose to go to Cuzama to see 3 Cenotes but poor Chelsea is quite sick with Montezumas Revenge so I'm taking this oppertunity to write a blog and holding my breath that I don't get sick too. Yesterday we took a bus to Labna Xlapak Sayil Kabah and then on to Uxmal. Although we were rushed for time it was amazing Labna and Xlapak are small and look's like they may have functioned http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Uxmal/blog-294931.html The Night before in MeridaThis has nothing to do with Celestun but Im going to mention it anyways because I can. So mother and I took the time to go out since she had time to now that the Conference that she was going to was almost at an end and take a look at one of the things that always seem to be happening during the later hours instead of either 1. Drinking where we were staying or 2. Goi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Celestun/blog-294239.html