4/1/08

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Hey guys,

So we are back from break, and I am in need of a vacation to recover from the last one... but alas, back to school.

In Paris we got to see a lot of the city and a lot of the metro stations. We visited the Louvre on a terrifically rainy day, which was great. The Louvre is huge! We picked a few things that we wanted to see and based our trip around those. I think my favorite was Winged Glory, which is the huge statue that used to be an angel.... now, though, it is headless, but still really cool and a pretty amazing site (especially since they have it placed at the top of a stair case). We also got to see the Mona Lisa, which was about the size I thought it would be, however, they have it all roped off, and with the amount of people in the way I couldn't see that much.

Beside visiting the Louvre, we got around to seeing the Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower (during the day and at night), the Opera House, and of course we walked the Champs Elysees... twice. Molly's grandparents were nice enough to foot our lunch bill at a cafe outside the opera house and we also found the Hard Rock- Paris and ate dinner there one night, thanks to Sammi's parents.

After Paris we flew to Palermo, hoping to spend a relaxing week at an apartment we rented on Lipari, which is a small island off of Sicily. We had no such luck. After spending two days on Sicily, and searching for places to stay at night we decided to head back to the main land because the ferries could not make the trip across the water out to the island due to storms. It was a total bummer but we decided to take a train up north (way north) to Lake Como and spend the rest of our break there.

So after buying our tickets (I swear I am spending all of money on train tickets) and hoping on the over night/ten hour train to Milan from Milazzo, we found out that we did not actually have seats. Instead, while watching other passengers tuck themselves into large compartments (Harry Potter style) for the night, we sat in the train, at times on the floor and other times on the off-the-wall bench like seats with our luggage. Though it was complete hell at the time... it sure makes for a funny story now!

Once we finally got to Lake Como we settled in and had a blast. Our hostel there was cheap and really nice. The Lake was absolutely beautiful and we were able to get ferry passes so we could visit the other towns on the lake (Ballagio, Varenna, and the like). Also, since we were so close to the Swiss border (about 8 miles) we took a bus ride there one afternoon and walked down by the lake. Also, our last full day up north we hopped the 30 minute train to Milan and got to check out the city. Milan was great... much cleaner than Rome, but about the same pace.

We got back to Rome in the early afternoon on Sunday. I have never been so happy to be somewhere besides home. Vacation was great, but I was definitely ready to be back to my schedule... even if that meant going to classes, ha.

Unfortunately for me and for you, my camera has decided to act up and I was not able to use for hardly any of break. So for the mean time... I have no pictures. I will, however, be sure to steal some from my friends and post them as soon as I can.

See you all soon... I'll be home a month from tomorrow!!!

Bridge

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