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Published: April 22nd 2006
Loading up the Car
Mom, Nonna and Mark trying to fit everything into the back of our rental carHello everyone,
The reason why I haven’t updated you on my adventures over here for the past few weeks is because I have been out and about traveling new parts of Europe over our Easter Break (of 2 weeks). My adventure began in Rome, which I found to be a truly beautiful city, followed by a trip to Maione (where my grandma and grandpa were born). I then began exploring other countries and visited some friends in France and finally ended it off with a quick trip to London. Some of you are probably thinking that "Andrea has gone crazy because those are only 3 different countries" but keep reading and you will find out where I got 5 from!
Country #1- Italy
I started off my Easter Break by re-uniting with my family (including my grandma) in Rome. It was really glad to have them all waiting for me in the airport after not seeing them for about 3 months! We stayed one night in this SUPER nice Hilton hotel at the airport and talked for hours about all the stuff we've been up to and what was planned for the days ahead. The next morning we all
We never were left wondering which Ford was ours...
I bought this in Glasgow for Mark to put on the Buick but it had another use as well! hopped into the Ford rental car (filled to the brim with everyone’s bags) and started our journey to the small town in southern Italy where my grandparents grew up and most of my distant relatives still live today. Upon arrival, about 5 hours later, we were greeted with lots of hugs, kisses, cheek pinches, and Italian phrases that no one could understand too well! That night we met (what seemed like) the whole town of Maione and ate lots and lots of great Italian food. After an exhausting day of navigating our way through Italy and meeting probably 30 people my jet legged family and I headed to bed. The next few days were literally FULL of adventure, we visited the homes of every family member who lived in the town (eating different homemade baking at each), had a shopping day in Cosenza (the closest place with shopping malls), walked to the next small town (where Mark and I made a new friend- Bruno), went on a tour of the University where my cousins go to school and checked out the local scenery.
The theme of most of our time here seemed to revolve around eating (manga- in Italian).
View from our balcony in Maione
You can see the next small town (Altilia) on the hill Breakfast usually consisted of a cup of very strong but yummy espresso coffee, and a variety of cakes that they had made from scratch. Lunch in Italy is the main meal of the day and usually involved 3-4 courses. It always started off with some type of homemade pasta (a large portion), then we usually had meatballs and salads, then the breaded chicken and bread came out followed by plates full of cheeses and meats then finally some fruit to finish it off. Sometimes we even had cake on top of all of this. It was unreal the amount of food we ate but I wasn’t complaining because I didn’t have to cook anything all week Dinners were supposedly their ‘lite’ meal but we would still ate huge pizza’s or pasta soups with bread and meats. And obviously there was never a shortage of homemade wines and liqueurs out on the table (as Dad can attest to…..)!
Leaving for the next part of our family vacation was both happy and sad at the same time. It was really sad to say goodbye to all our family who had been so hospitable to us while we were in their
Mark on the balcony
You can see the local football (soccer) field behind him homes but it was also exciting to know that we were going to see the Mediterranean Sea after a beautiful (but scary) drive along the Italian coast.
Amalfi was about 3 hours north of Miaone and the drive was sure an interesting one. The roads along the coast are VERY skinny and windey but luckily Dad got us through them alive! After settling into our hotel we took a walk along the harbour and explored the town a bit. During the next 24 hours we did a bit of shopping in the town center and ate lots of Gelato 😊 The next day we were back in the Ford and driving even more north to Rome, where we had started a few days earlier. With my master navigation skills and Dad's excellent driving manouvers we made it to our Bed and Breakfast around dinner time. Right outside our place was the longest shopping street in Rome so we took a walk down there and grabbed some dinner at a traditional Italian restaurant (complete with lots of beautilful scenery to look at during dinner- wink wink). The next day Mark left us to meet his school group and Mom, Dad
Posing for a quick pic
On our walk around the town Mark took my picture infront of the 'Maione' sign and I started touring the Colluseum and ancient Roman ruins. We also took a night tour of the city which was great becuase alot of the main attractions are lit up and look beautiful! The city was very busy becuase it was Easter break for alot of people in Europe during this time. The next day was our last one in Rome and Easter Sunday so we thought that it would be a great opportunity to go see the Pope!!
Country #2- The Vatican City
Not sure if everyone knows that this area of Rome is considered to be its own country so I am counting this as the second country I was able to visit on my 2 week excursion. There are only 932 people living in this small 'country' and the majority of it is covered by the San Pietro (St. Peter's) church. Mom and I decided to take on the bold task of attending the Palm Sunday mass here and it was totally worth standing 3 hours for (and narrowly escaping a HUGE fine from the 4 very rude transit cops as well- this story is better told in person so I will share it with
Our new friend Bruno
Mark and I came across this cute little dog on our walk in the next village you when i get home).... The square was almost completely full of people from all over the world who had come to hear the new Pope Benedict XVI deliver the mass. We are one of the lucky few people who actually got to eat bread during communion now I can say I have had some 'real' holy bread from the Pope himself!
It was now time to say goodbye to Mom and Dad again and catch a Easy Jet flight to Mulhouse, France where I planned to meet with my friend Carole.
Country #3- France
Mulhouse, France is located very close to the border between France, Switzerland and Germany. This city is found in the Alsace region of France and has many things that are unique to it. While here for 4 days I was able to try lots of the local foods (cheese, real french bread, home made crepes with chocolate sauce) and wines. The switch from the Italian langage to french took me a bit of time to adjust to but by the 3rd day some of the French I had learned in Grade 7 was coming back to me. Carole's family was very hopitable and
Sporting our new clothes
Mark, myself and my second cousin stephano with our new Kappa outfits on it was sad to say goodbye to all of them but I hope to return to Mulhouse at some point in the future (and next time I will learn some more French before I go!)
Country #4- Switzerland
The city of Basel was only about a 1 hour drive from Carole's house so she decided to take me there for the day. Everything there was really really pricey so I didnt get to do much shopping but we browsed around the stores and stopped for lunch and some pastries along the way. Becuase Switzerland is not currently part of the European Union we had to exchange some Euros into Swiss Francs- this only confused it further for me becuase now i had to think of the conversion from Cdn dollars to UK pounds to Euros to Francs...it was realy confusing! Reading the maps and signs was also interesting becuase most of them were in German which neither me or Carole spoke very well 😊
France cont......
My solo 4.5 hour train ride to Paris followed by the 5 tranfers in the VERY confusing Paris Underground System was something I was dreading, but with the help of a very
My Uncle Enzo
He loved to tell me how beautiful the region of Calabria is. detailed instruction sheet I made it to my next destination with no trouble at all! My friend Edouard (who was on exchange in Calgary last semester) goes to school at HEC business school which is located between the center of Paris and The Palace of Versailles. After dropping off all my stuff at his place we took the quick train ride to go explore the palace and city of Versailles. The palace was UNREAL, everyone room was decorated with detailed paintings, ornate furnishings and various other original objects. We took a tour of the palace then ventured out into the gardens that lay behind it. I think that this place would be great to visit in the summer when all the trees and flowers have blosomed. After venturing around about 1/2 the garden (which took us about 3 hours) we grabbed some dinner and a drink with one of his friends from school.
The next day started off with me packing up AGAIN and us taking the train back into Paris where we had a full day ahead of us (becuase I had to see it all in 1 day- which is impossible by the way). After i had
The 4 generations
My mom, great grandpma, grandma and me checked into my hotel we started the journey. The pictures you see below show and explain everything we did that day so I wont elaborate anymore- but we had a great time and it was great having a personal tour guide along for the day! The next morning I packed up my back AGAIN and took the Chunnel ride into London!
Country #5- UK
Ok so now I was back in the UK and met my friend Andrew (whos also from Canada) for the last part of our Easter break. As soon as I got off the chunnel we literally ran to our hostel, dropped off my stuff, and ran to the theater- to catch a 2:30 show of "The Producers". The musical was very funny and full of great music- by this time I was getting pretty tired and hungry so we grabbed a pint and some dinner and relaxed before heading back to the hostel. The next day was Easter Sunday so we got up with the intention of going to church but realized that we had to check out of the hostel by 10am and then find somewhere to put our bags for the day- so
Group shot
From left to right:
My mom, Pepe (second uncle), Orelia (second aunt who's house we were at), Mark, Olivia (my second Aunt), me, Nonna Dora (my great grandma), my grandma and Dad.... needless to say we didnt make it to mass in time!
That day we we both pretty tired from our long two weeks of travelling so we just went to Hyde park, The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, walked around London at night then hopped on the long 8 hour overnight bus back to Glasgow that night at 11pm.
WOW I know this was alot to read but I promise its over now! If your tired reading this just imagine how tired I was after this trip- this week has been all about sleeping and returning to my normal life her in Glasgow. I only have 1 more week of classes left then finals begin in May. I am planning to do some more travelling in May so keep checking for more updates on my life.
Go Flames Go 😊
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Graham
non-member comment
Poor Little Finger
You shot that poor camera to death! Oh well, I bet you my dad could take twice as many pictures of only water (Thats how bad it is people!) Who knew driving should be full of life and death situations. And we'll have to break your dad into good ol' Canadian beer again, get him away from the Italiano liquor.