french adventures

Welp, I just finished my last exam and my last class of the semester! So excited to be done.

So I have tonight and tomorrow all day to pack and finish doing all the Rennes-y things I can do before heading off to PARIS first thing Thursday morning!

I can’t believe how fast this semester flew by!

So there is not a whole lot to say about Nice.

We were on the beach every single day we were there. Awesome. But I have some bruises just from laying on the rocks there. Not my favorite beach in the world…only because it is not sandy. But the Mediterranean Sea. That is amazing. So blue, you’d think it was fake. I got to swim in it. It was still a little chilly. It is only May after all. But I’ve swam in colder water. Being in it and just looking out to the rest of the sea is a really good feeling.

We also went on a “boat tour” which was really just a guy who is friends with the hostel director and takes people on his minuscule sailboat. It was 25euro for 3 hours with “fresh drinks.” Well, it ended up being only an hour and a half, and the fresh drinks ended up being one bottle of wine (which he brought for his friends, who were also on the boat with us) and diet pepsi. Not exactly what I signed up for. But the views were spectacular, and the sun was warm. So I was happy.

I tried a lot of interesting foods in Nice. First, I tried seafood risotto. That includes squid, shrimp, and mussels. I ate all of it. Then, I tried mussels alone. Again, I ate all of them. And finally, the last night, we decided to really go for it. Marianne and I tried escargot. Yep, snails. And turns out, they are SO GOOD. It isn’t something I would eat on a regular basis (mostly because it’s really expensive) but it was definitely worth trying. I’m proud of us.

Now, it’s getting toward the end of my journey. I can’t believe I’ve been here almost four months and I have less than one left. It’s crazy. I am more than ready to be home with my family, but I also never want to leave. But, c’est la vie.

First of all: BEST FRIEND TIME. so great.

Italy is such a cool place.

Friday- We made it to Rome with almost no problems. Only thing that caused trouble was a man trying to pickpocket Dani and me in the subway in Athens. But don’t worry, we took care of it. We took a shuttle to the train station and thought we might die every 5 seconds, but we made it. We found the next train to Florence and caught it. We got into the train station in Florence around 3 to meet Bernie. It was so amazing to see her finally. We did another run, hug type thing. I was so incredibly happy to see her. So we walked to find the girls’ hostel. It took about a half hour to find it, lugging heavy suitcases. Then it started raining. Yuck. Then I had to keep lugging my suitcase all the way to Bernie’s apartment. We finally made it and it is so amazing! Her windows look straight out to the Duomo. Not to mention, it is a giant apartment. So we sat around and talked for a few hours and met her roommates. Then she cooked us spaghetti with meatballs, which was amazing. We went out for a drink for a while, then came back to go to sleep.

Saturday- It was such a beautiful day. We got up pretty early to go to breakfast at the American diner in Florence. SO. GOOD. I had eggs and bacon AND an iced coffee. After that we started exploring Florence a bit. We walked to the Arno River and over the beautiful Ponte Vecchio to go to Boboli Gardens. This was such an amazing place. You climb to the top and have such beautiful views of Florence. I can’t even describe it. We sat up there and Bernie and I talked for about an hour just catching up on everything and it was wonderful. We decided to head back to see the inside of the Duomo and other stuff around Florence. The Duomo is a big church, if you didn’t know. It’s so beautiful inside. There is a giant domed ceiling that is painted incredibly intricately. It’s just really cool. We wanted to climb the dome, but it ended up closing early because it was Saturday. So we grabbed a coffee and some dinner (pizza) and headed back to the apartment to relax and change. Saturday night was Notte Bianca (white night) in Florence. It’s kind of a festival where a lot of shops stay open late, there are vendors everywhere, and performers in all the piazzas. It was really neat. We saw a very cool jazz band performing in one of the piazzas. There were SO many people everywhere. It was crazy. After the performers, we grabbed some gelato and headed home early in order to get some sleep before waking up super early.

Sunday- Cinque Terre. There is no other place I have seen like Cinque Terre. It is absolutely amazing. It is 5 towns along the coast of Italy. You can hike from one town to the next to the next and so on. There is also a train that connects them all. We started off at Riomaggiore. As you get off the train, you can see the teal-blue water crashing against the rocks. So beautiful. Then you start walking. And everywhere you look is just an amazing view. We walked from the first to the second towns, which was a pretty easy, paved walk. I figured it wouldn’t be bad at all in that case. The trail between the second and third towns was closed, so we took the train. We were told the next stretch was long, but not too hard. Biggest lie I have ever heard. First of all, there is a stretch of 382 stairs that you get to climb up all in a row. And that is not even the halfway point. The rest of the hike was about 2 hours total. Lots of ups and downs, and no pavement. It was incredibly difficult, and we were all so exhausted. But every time I looked up made it worth it. It was so beautiful I thought I was going to cry. We finally made it to the fourth town and grab lunch. My reward: pesto pasta. Probably the best pasta I ever ate. We took the train to the next town (the last part of the hike takes about 3 hours and is VERY difficult, so I’ve heard) to sit on the beach. Again, it was so gorgeous I could have died and gone to heaven. I swam happily in the Mediterranean and laid in the sun. After that, we took the train all the way back to the beginning to get on a bus back to Florence. We got back and were exhausted, so we decided on McDonald’s for dinner, and passed out.

Monday- Today is my last day here and I am not happy about it. I do not want to leave my best friend, and I do not want to leave Firenze. I’m not ready yet. We saved the best for last today. We climbed the Duomo. I thought I was going to die climbing those 463 stairs. Yes, 463. But we made it and the view was spectacular. You can see all of Florence from the top, and it was so neat. Then it started to rain. At first it was a light sprinkle. Then it downpoured. But, we loved it. We just soaked it right up with the rest of the experience. It was so beautiful, even in the rain. Then we came back, dried off, and relaxed. Bernie and I had some tea, and talked more about our lives and not wanting to leave ever. Then, we decided to get dressed and go have dinner. Best meal in Florence. I had ravioli rosé with peas and wine. We also got some tiramisu to share and it was to die for. We spent probably two hours at the restaurant, just eating and talking, and enjoying each other’s company. We came back to the apartment, hung out some more, then the girls went to their hostel and Bernie and I are heading to bed.

I am so sad to be leaving this beautiful place. But I am more sad to be leaving my best friend again. I don’t want to do it. This has by far been the happiest I’ve been in Europe, and it is because I have been with her the whole time. But, we will not be separated for long. And I will be living with her again next year. So, I think I can live until then <3

Ciao!

Here is a rundown of my four days in Greece:

Monday: We made it to Athens after an early flight and an even earlier taxi ride. No problems. When we got off the plane, we just walked through some doors and there was the exit. No customs? Weird, but alright. They let anyone in here. After a long metro ride with some lovely people from London, we made it to our stop. And with directions from hostelworld and some friendly store owners, we found our hostel. Nicest hostel ever. We even had a balcony. So we put our stuff down and immediately went out to see the Acropolis. It was the nicest day, and everything was free since it was a holiday! The only downside was my camera died in the middle of the day and I didn’t get any good pictures of the Parthenon up close. Still nice. Also, a cool thing about Athens is there are dogs EVERYWHERE. Most of them are strays, but they all seemed really nice and they just like to sleep all day. Dinner Monday night was gyros from a take-out place for 2.20 euros. Can’t beat that.

Tuesday: We slept in a bit and went down the street for breakfast. The restaurant owner was so nice, and the only not pushy one I had seen. (The restaurant owners stand outside their restaurants and try to lure you in and be your best friend. It gets real annoying after a while.) We all got the first real breakfast we’ve had in a while and it was great. After that, we walked up past the Acropolis again and climbed a giant rock nearby to get some good pictures. After that, we went down to the Ancient Agora, which is what used to be a marketplace but is now ruins. It was really cool to see all of it. We also saw the Thiession, which seemed to be the best preserved building of them all. It was really neat. After another little hike, we got some gelato and took a little break before going to the flea market. I bought some souvenirs and also some zebra-striped Ray Bans (fake). Dinner Tuesday night was at the restaurant with the pushiest man, which was the one closest to the hostel. I got Chicken Souvlaki, which really means grilled chicken. Good to know.

Wednesday: We slept in again and went down to the same restaurant as the first one for lunch. This time I got moussaka and a greek salad. Delicious, but so filling. Then, we did some souvenir shopping before heading to the Acropolis museum. Something to note: Athens is pretty much all marble and stone. Rain makes that slippery. Also, it makes me fall down stairs. I got a pretty nasty bruise, but I’m alright. We saw a lot of preserved statues and stuff in the Acropolis Museum and that was pretty cool. After that, we went to the National Gardens. They’re like a jungle in the middle of a city. Very cool. There is a small zoo-type thing in the middle with peacocks, bunnies, geese, elk, and some other animals. We also saw some more dogs there frolicking in a little waterfall and it was adorable. Dinner Wednesday night: gyros to go again. So good.

Thursday: We went to the island Aegina for the day. It was about an hour boat ride on a really sweet ferry. We got there and walked a bit around it. Then we got some lunch. More gyros. We went to look at some ruins and found out they closed literally a minute before we got there. But we sat on the beach for a long time and stared at the beautiful views. After that we wandered some more and got some baklava then headed back to Athens. Dinner Thursday night was a really nice one. We went to a restaurant down the street and got some humus to start. Homemade and awesome. Then I got chicken and pasta cooked in a clay pot and it was just amazing. Best meal yet.

Greece is really cool, and I highly suggest it to anyone considering it.

Quote of the trip: “Those damn unicorn people!” - An old American woman exclaiming about centaurs ruining things for the Athenians.

Tomorrow = FLORENCE!

So, today was not the best start to a vacation.

First, we were a little late getting to the train station this morning, so no coffee :( Then, Dani had forgotten her tickets and had to wait in a long line and we almost missed our train! But we made it. Then, there were no seats for us on the train. The other girls were lucky and got to sit in little seats in between cars, but I wasn’t so fortunate. I had a mean old lady telling me to move, and a very touchy-feely couple sitting in the other corner. Then, when they managed to get off the train, two very loud women and their FIVE children and a giant baby carriage got on, with no where to sit. So they were all with me in the tiniest compartment and I was smushed against the baby carriage the whole time(3 hours).

Finally made it to Paris, in a bad mood and exhausted because I had taken some motion sickness medicine. We sat in Starbucks for a while so I could rest my feet and wake up a little. Then we had to take the metro to another train to get to Rungis where our hotel is. So we made it there also, after less drama. Then we needed to get to our hotel. I had five taxi numbers, and you would think that would be enough, but nope. No one had any cars available. So we finally got someone to tell us he would be here at 7. That’s only 2 and a half hours, we can wait. Well at 7:30, he still hadn’t shown up. We called him and he said “Oh, that’s too far. Let me give you another number to call.” REALLY?! He couldn’t tell us the first time we called? Ugh, so finally we called someone and they said they would be here in 10 minutes. Thank goodness. Also, I should mention that while we were sitting and waiting, a LIZARD attacked me. It just jumped on me out of nowhere and crawled all over my leg. Terrifying. But, we made it to the hotel, showered and relaxed. Now it’s bed time so I can get up at 3am to get to the airport and go to GREECE!

αντίο!