http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/klhall/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from klhall en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:31:21 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:31:21 BST Amy and I had a 24 hour layover in Madrid so we tried to make the most of the little time that we had. From the airport we took the Metro downtown. The metro in Madrid was such a nice change of pace from Italy. It was clean and efficient and very easy to navigate. Our hostel was easy to find and absolutely beautiful inside. The room wasn't the greatest because we were in a 16 person coed d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-276279.html Amy and I arrived in Florence after the longest trip ever. We took Amtrak to Chicago then a flight from Chicago to Naples with a layover in Madrid followed by a train ride from Naples to Florence. All together we traveled for 29 hours straight. EXHAUSTING The first night we saw some sights had dinner and got lost on the way back to the hostel. Nothing too crazy though. The next day we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-276234.html Jason and I made the trip down for Ashley and Joey's wedding. The first night started out fine. We had dinner with the family and bridal party at a great Mexican resturant. After dinner we picked up some beerI chose fours because I am a moron and the younger crowd all went back to Chris and Meagin's . By about midnight almost everyone had gone to sleep but Ashley and I decided that it was http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Orlando/blog-260392.html On Thursday Meagin Anne Ashley and I boarded the Carnival Sensation for our 3 day Bachelorette Extravaganza. The first day was kind of cold outside so we spent our day exploring the ship drinking and then hitting up the clubs onboard that evening. The ship was quite interesting. Meagin was the only one of us that had cruised beforeand it had been several years ago so we didn't really k http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Nassau/Bahamas/blog-239089.html After Costa Rica we flew back to Birmingham AL and went to the NASCAR race in Talladega. It was my first race and I will have to admit it was more fun than I had expected. However tent camping with only one portapotty and a community motorhome bathroom for showers wasn't exactly my thing. Oh well Jason enjoyed himself and I had a good time too. The race was a lot more fun to watch in p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alabama/Birmingham/blog-233799.html It was great to finally get to our house in Manzanillo. After some of the stress that we had dealing with San Jose this seemed to be a world away. La Patita was just about a mile north of Manzanillo and a 15 minute drive from Puerto Viejo. After settling in we drove to Manzanillo to eat at Maxis. The food was wonderful It was great to have some really good seafood. The resturant was right http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Limon/Manzanillo/blog-230083.html We arrived in San Jose at 11pm after a very long and annoying flight that had to be redirected land and fly back. Since the rental car office had closed we had to find a cab to our hotel Gran Hotel Costa Rica. It was a great old hotel. Not the most modern of places but it was in a great location and very historic. The next morning before checking out we walked around the neighborhood an http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/blog-230074.html I took the train up from Naples to Florence. Florence is so relaxing compared to southern Italy. It is very Americanized. Usually I don't like that but for a girl who has spent the last month or so almost being kidnapped robbed and conned by her boss it was GREAT I stayed as the Ostello Archi Rosi which was the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. They had a lot to do there and American http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-192112.html Oh my goodness I have had the craziest life lately. I took the train down to Sorrento for the weekend. Once I got there I checked into a hostel and started to explore the city. The lemon groves were so beautiful and looked like to much fun to play inbut you can't. Then I walked to the beach but the cliffs are so tall that the beach doesn't get any sun until late in the afternoon. After g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/blog-192105.html I think this was the craziest day of my life so far I took the train down to Naples to spend my birthday there with my friend John. I spent the morning wandering throught the crowded street market just off of Piazza Garibaldi. When John arrived we took a cab down to the port to have lunch near the sea. On the ride down we are stopped at a stop light and this vespa pulls up between our cab http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-192100.html Ok so I haven't been on here since my last major vacation. Now i'm not on vacation I just moved to Rome Italy I am working for a bed and breakfast as the Marketing Director and Manager. I just arrived yesterday and the cab driver totally ripped me off. I hear that is very common here. I live about 4 blocks from the train station that I arrived at and somehow I took a 30 euro cab r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-192089.html I really enjoyed our time in Munich. We were only there for a day but it was a great time. We began the day touring the city and seeing the sights. However we had been touring old European cities for 2 weeks and we needed something a little different. Then we went for dinner and drinks at the Hofbrauhaus. This may have been one of the most fun places of the whole trip. Just like in the mo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-192086.html We spent the day at the hot springs in Slovenia. It was somewhat of a mix between a water park and a spa. This was so relaxing after all of the traveling we had been doing. I wish we could have seen more of Slovenia but we just drove through the countryside and went to the hot springs. On our way back to Austria we were stopped at the bordersince Slovenia isn't part of the EU. The guards http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/blog-192083.html Venice was amazing. The water taxis and the gondolas were so much fun. This is probably one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to. It is just so different with no cars. The glass there was amazing too. Josh Lex and I took a gondola ride. It was a lot of fun and luckily we didn't go under the bridge of sighs. I am hoping to save that for my husband. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-192063.html We spent the day in Salzburg at the Salt Mines. They were a lot of fun. You have to dress up like a moron but the big slide inside the mine was fun F.Y.I. It is a salt mine so if you touch the walls don't put your fingers in your mouth. Sadly I learned this the hard way. Don't ask me why I had my fingers in my mouth. All I know is that it didn't taste good. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Salzburg-State/Salzburg/blog-192061.html We left Rome and drove up through Ravenna to a campground on the Adriatic Sea. I had 2 firsts there..... Driving in Italy and Going Topless on the Beach Lex and I decided that we wanted to take the car and go explore on our own. This probably wasn't best idea considering neither one of us know the roads what the street signs mean or any italianexcept for vino. It was quite the experienc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-192060.html We drove down throught Italy to Pereto a small mountain town outside of Rome. The drive was really amazing. We drove through the Alps then through fields of olives and then by Florence. We didn't actually stop in Florence but we could see the city from the Autostrada. We also saw the Prada factory Pereto is beautiful It is what you would think of as a typical Italian town. It was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-192058.html We spent the day driving through the alps. I am soooo glad I didn't have to drive. The scenery was amazing. We even got out and had a snowball fight. Since it was so hot we were all wearing shorts but then we changed to get out and run around in the snow. Then we went to Neuschweinstein Castle. We got some great pictures there. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/blog-192056.html We visited Heidelberg castle. The view was beautiful but we have all begun to drag. There was no recovery from the jet lag followed by nights of partying. It has been a rough trip so far but still a lot of fun. That night we took it easy and had a cookout in a small town in the alps of Austria. It was great just to go grocery shopping and relax cook out and drink some wine. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-192054.html We spent the day driving along the Rhine River touring castles and visiting Cologne. At one of the castles we went in an underground mazesee pic of Josh. For a girl that is kind of claustrophobic the tight squeezes were a little scary. Plus I was not informed that we could be crawling around in a tunnel so I wore a skirt. Oh well it was a blast. Cologne was beautiful and so was the cath http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/North-Rhine-Westphalia/Cologne/blog-192043.html