http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/LaurenItaly/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from LaurenItaly en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:51:27 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:51:27 +0000 Luckily I was able to make 2 trips out to Siena over the past couple weeks. Its about an hour and a half away from Florence still in the Tuscany region. The bus ride there is beautiful in itself of the Toscana countryside hills of vineyards olive trees and old cottages and farms. I was amazed at how much bigger Siena was than I thought. Although it is mostly residential it still holds many gr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-350604.html THE MOST AMAZING CITY Did that do this entry justice Haha The next stop on our travels was Spain which was a total opposite of The Netherlands Barcelona was a completely Metropolitan city so diverse and flashy people everywhere and there was so much to do at any time. Even though the city was very busy with a various mix of people it was still overflowing with culture. The people were so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-345054.html First stop on our fall break tour was The Netherlands My roommate Sajel and I took a 6am flight to Eindhoven where we later connected to Amsterdam we checked our bags into the hotel and set out to explore. Thankfully we brought heavy jackets because it was FREEZING up there. We spent our first day walking through the city amazed by all the ldquocoffee shopsrdquo and how liberal everything w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-344791.html Last week Ben came to visit I picked him up from the Saturday afternoon loaded him with gelato to get over his jet lag and took him all around the city. We walked up Piazza Michelangelo and I showed him the best view of Florence its a hike but well worth it. Then we wandered around as I pointed out my school fun cafes and shops. We visited Piazza Signoria where there are some great Florentin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-337931.html 2 weeks ago my friends and I took a weekend trip to Venice and it was beautiful Definitely a very romantic city adorable canal streets and gondolas everywhere. It was crazy going place to place via water taxi. I visted the main tourist spot of Piazza San Marco and the basilica there. It was full of gorgeous fresco mosaics. It was such a magical city with tons of old little streets and alley ways http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-337095.html Last weekend the group of us from school took a bus trip out to Chianti with our program director it was an arranged trip we left early and about 2 hours later pulled up the mountains into this gorgeous castle type building. Immediately after walking off the bus we see this truck pouring grapes into a large basin and in front of us there are fields beyond fields of gorgeous vineyards its like o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/blog-332581.html What a weekend took a night train up to Munich with my roommate and that was an experience in itself. We arrived in Munich at 8am and we beyond excited to see a Starbucks for the first time in over a month these are the little things you miss from America So of course we loaded up on lattes and cream cheese bagels. We met up with some of our friends from our language class in Florence that are http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-332561.html Its been a while since I last wrote so just wanted to say hello I cannot believe an entire month has gone by already it has honestly felt like a week Don't worry I've had the occasional homesick feeling missing all my loved ones back home I just wish you all could come out here and experience this beautiful country with me Tomorrow I will upload a bunch of new pictures from our recent museum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/blog-326883.html Last weekend we adventured to Cinque Terre Its a gorgeous place with 5 small 'villages' off the coast of the Riviera about a 2 hour train ride from Florence. Monterosso Vernazza Corniglia Manarola and Riomaggio they were amazing small 'beach' towns full of mountains and considered a 'preserved world heritage site' The ocean was so beautifulmy first time swimming in the Mediterranean It wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-323035.html Rutgers in Florence We pulled some strings and were able to get the Rutgers football season opening game on at this pub nearby very fun night...More pictures to come http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-319699.html Going on two weeks in beautiful Florence and the city continues to change everyday as more and more shops and restaurants open everywhere because the Florentines are coming back from summer vacation. Its a very busy city to put into perspective its said that there are 1.5 cars to every person including babies and the elderly in this city including Vespa... so you learn right away to walk on t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-319384.html Hello again I'm having an awful time finding internet of else I would be updating everyday. It's been about a week in Florence and although it may still be the honeymoon stage of the trip i can honestly say I've never been anywhere so beautiful and cultured. I love how they preserve everything and do not adapt to tourists that are flooding the city. They lied when they said everyone speaks E http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-317257.html Hello It's been about 4 days living in gorgeous Firenze and it has been an absolute dream. Arrived here last Friday after a very long day of flying and met everyone in our groupfirst impressionscould not have asked for a better group of people. Anyways Friday night we went out to this beautiful restaurant sitting right on the main river in Florence we all got dressed up sat down to the 20 pers http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-316976.html Just got back from sailing in paradise What a great trip we left out of Brooklyn NY on the Caribbean Princess. It was a HUGE ship with way too many people but everything was great the food the atmosphere the entertainment My sister and I buddied up with some crew members from Bulgaria Macedonia Australia Canada and England everyone was hilarious and let us in on the fun all over http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Caribbean/blog-311772.html