The last day of Florence and the last day of our trip :(. I can't believe it is all over. This morning we met up with a walking tour guide to take us around the city of Florence. To be honest, until this point I wasn't sure Florence was all that spectacular but a greater depth of exploration and a little guidance showed me that this city is full of history and amazing design both from years past and modern design and culture. You walk along and will be looking at hundreds of year old architecture, art and sculpture, then turn the corner and you are walking on high town streets packed full of designer stores. There is so much variety and culture in Florence! On the walking tour we stopped off at a few of Florences finest art museums (My favorite stop? The David by Michelangelo) After the tour we had more time to shop, eat and enjoy one last night in Florence and Europe. My gelato reflected the sunset of bright oranges, reds and yellows as I indulged in my surroundings (and gelato.) Off to bed to wake up for an early start and a journey home!

When your hotel room is dark and cold I guess that means you sleep until almost noon and miss breakfast. Oh well. I woke up and started once more at the markets to buy presents and last time shopping. That was the extent of my day. I’m just enjoying more of Florence and taking it all in before we come home on Thursday.

Florence

6 am wake up call and dragging our luggage back to the train station to catch a 3 hour train to Florence. Luckily it was earlier this time so it wasn’t as hot…or as sweaty. When we got to Florence we had to drag our bags again to our hotel but it wasn’t as far this time and the hotel is air conditioned so it made for a nice nap and groggily waking up for an Italian lunch and then shopping at the local market. Then home for more sleep and more food..probably more shopping. Go Florence!

Venice 2

Second and final day of Venice so once again I just tried to absorb and enjoy as much of Italy as I could soo what better place to go than the BEACH! We took the water bus (ferry) to Lido which was a good way to see Venice fast. It just cruised down the river and passed all the museums, churches and houses along the way. At the end of the canal the water way opens up to bigger waters (I’m not really sure how to describe it like many things in this blog) but anyway when it opens up to more water you can look back and see all of the city built on the water and just all the houses and buildings and its so amazing. I am still in awe at how the city was built and just the mystery and the history behind the city. We choose a beautiful sunny day to go to the beach and enjoyed napping on the sand and swimming in the warm water. In the afternoon we made our way back to Venice to shop some more! Truly a beautiful city that I will definitely be coming back to!

Venice

We arrived at the main train station in Venice that morning but transferred trains and headed back out of Venice to our hotel in a little town outside of the city. When we got to the stop we had to drag our luggage for 15 mins to the Hotel Inn Express. It was the middle of the day in the heat of Italy and we were all still dressed for chilly Paris so it got a little sweaty. Good workout for the day though. After showers and short naps we went back to the main part of Venice to walk around and shop. I loved Venice just as much as I thought I would and it was great to just absorb the feel of an Italian city.

Last Day of Paris

Last Day in Paris…everything went by so fast because of the short time to do so much. Once again I headed to the Eiffel Tower (lucky it’s close to my hotel) to try one last time to go to the top before leaving for Italy. I met up with my Australian friends at the Australian Embassy on the way but when we got to the Eiffel Tower the lines were so long that there was no way we could do it in the amount of time we had so even though I went to the Eiffel Tower at least 3 times I didn’t end up going up. Even though it may seem disappointing I enjoyed the memories just being at the Eiffel tower and being with friends. Rhys, you’re awesome if you ever read this! Sydney Parkour…yeah! After leaving the boys I went shopping on the first day of sales in Paris and then straight back to the hotel and then off to the train station to catch our overnight train to Venice. Imagine with me if you will 5 girls plus luggage cramped into a 4’ by 6’ room that was no more than 10’ tall. Fun huh? Lucky I can sleep anywhere. When we woke up we were in Italy!

Versailles

At 9:30 am we were met by our instructor in our hotel lobby to go to Versailles. We spent the whole day at the Chateau and only got to see probably less than half of the whole property. What we saw was very grand and I especially loved the Hall of Mirrors which they just finished renovating on Monday after 3 years so we were very lucky to see them in all of their glory! I’ll leave the rest up to the pictures because I don’t know how to describe it in words.

Musee d' Orsay, Catacombs, Paris Opera House, Pere Lachaisses

The first early morning start of Paris to go see the Musee d’ Orsay which was full of impressionist art and lots of sculpture. My favorite part was their Art Nouveau exhibit.
After d’ Orsay we had a free day to go see what we wanted in Paris so a few of us were off to the catacombs which is the underground burial ground for thousands of Parisians. There were just bones and bones and bones stacked at least 5 feet tall and maybe 3 feet deep! I had to remind myself that those were real bones because there were so many that it seemed fake.
It was a little creepy and a little surreal but really awesome. Our next stop was the Paris Opera House where the Phantom of the Opera was filmed.
Once again it was a building with beautiful gold detail. The highlight of my day was going to Jim Morrisons grave at Pere Lachaisses. It was a really old cool cemetery and it was an adventure in its own to walk through. I’ve been a Doors fan every since a very young age so it was cool to see the resting place of a rock icon.

St.Chapelle, Notre Dame, Pompidou, Louvre

Monday…well what can I say? We got to sleep in again and left at about 10 to go to Saint Chapelle which is a Cathedral made in the 1200s.
It is really striking because it is almost all stain glass windows which makes the whole place just light up and glow color. From St Chapelle we went to Notre Dame which was also amazing. It was just so big and had so much detail and was hunchbackesque?? Jk.
Pompidou was next on our list which is a building that is inside out. All of the pipes and the structure is shown on the outside which makes for a very innovative design.

After walking through their modern gallery we continued to make our way to the Louvre. We were supposed to do the Louvre on Tuesday and have a full day there but it is closed on Tuesdays so we ended up only having a couple of hours there.
Although it was a rush, it was a nice first dose and I’ll be back one day. Monday night I tried to meet up with a friend of mine at the Eiffel Tower but it ended up being rainy and windy so instead we walked around the general area and got crepes. A delicious end to a busy day.

Disneyland

Free Day number one of Paris and where do we go? DISNEYLAND! A few of my friends wanted to go to Disneyland and seeing as I haven’t been since I was about 3 or 4 I decided I should probably check it out. I was a little skeptical at first and a little tired this morning also a little groggy so I wasn’t so sure that in this cultural mecca of the world called Paris we should head off to the one place that is completely Americanized. It didn’t take me too long to warm up to the idea though. All I had to do was go on Space Mountain and I was sold. We actually ended up going on Space Mountain 3 times! I could have just gone on that ride the whole day and loved it. But we didn’t. We went on Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, on the Snow White ride, walked up the Swiss Family Robinson tree and through the Disney Castle. Food wise was a little pricey as theme parks tend to get but the part I liked was them selling crepes instead of churros. The crepes were good though. And I would also like everyone reading this to know that today I went on my first rollercoaster ride that goes upside down. Oddly enough it has taken me 19 years. But Space Mountain has two loops and Indiana Jones had one. As for the people, we had very good experiences today with people being very helpful and nice and very understanding. Also I was worried about feeling more threatened here but I don’t as long as I keep an eye out and am aware and smart I feel totally in control. So today was very successful and enjoyable. It was a nice change from all the chateaus and cathedrals.
P.S. I’m hoping to get pictures up soon. Tomorrow we might have wireless…fingers crossed.

Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte

Today we got to sleep in! The hotel served breakfast which was croissants and Nutella and laughing cow cheese. Doesn’t sound like a good mix but it actually was. We left at noon from our hotel on a coach that took us first to Fontainebleau. It was a very pretty place. There is so much architecture packed in that it is hard to see it all in an hour and a half or so but it was a nice change to be in France and see different styles of art and architecture.
After our audio/self guided tours we stopped off at a grocery store and bought food for a picnic at Vaux le Vicomte. It was a little tricky seeing as most of us don’t know any French but we figured out the cheese and bread easily and ended up getting a mixture of meat with bacon, ham and salami and then another packet of chicken. All I have to say is that the picnic was amazing seeing as the food was fresh and delicious. We did the candle tour of Vicomte but it doesn’t get dark till about 10:30 here so it was more like walking around a house with candles. It didn’t glow so much on the outside as we imagined but the inside was cool because lot of the rooms are pretty dark anyway so the candlelight actually gave off a good mood. Before our tour started we had plenty of time to walk around the grounds which were very vast and relaxing.
Nice time to sit and enjoy the idea that we’re actually seeing all these things we’ve learned about and the idea of being in a new place!

Paris

Cassie and I on the train to Paris.
Goodbye London. Hello Paris! We were out of our hotel and on the tube at 8 am! West Kensington to Westminster on the District Line transfer to Jubilee Line to Waterloo upstairs to Eurostar and in 3 hours we will be in Paris. I’m on the train now typing this so I will have to add more when we get to Paris. The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Paris at 2:30 pm with no problems. Out of the train station onto the streets of Paris to find that our coach hadn’t come. Next thing we know its 6:30 pm and we’re getting onto taxis because our coach never came. That’s right...about 4 hours of just sitting on the streets of Paris. Good time to see the bums and the gypsies at their finest. Really it wasn’t that big of a deal and to be honest I thought we were only there about one, maybe two hours. We passed the Louvre on the taxi and some other things and got to our hotel and settled in nicely. I can see the Eiffel Tower from the window above my bed and you can also see it if you stand outside of the other window and lean to the left. We like to live on the edge. :P We are now down to 3 room mates in a decent hotel room with our own bathrooms and new towels everyday! Next order of business was food at a nice Italian restaurant by our hotel. And then again sleep.
The group waiting on the streets of Paris for our bus
The Eiffel Tower from my Hotel.

Last Day London

Here I am on the last day of my London trip. Time really has flown. I woke up at about 9:30 and wondered how come we all were still in our room when we were supposed to be down stairs in the lobby to go to Windsor Castle at 8 am. You see, I wake up to other people getting ready instead of setting my alarm clock. So far it has worked nicely. Windsor Castle got canceled and today was a free day which was mostly filled with shopping, organizing and packing. I don’t even have any pictures so this little summary will have to do.

Chatsworth

Hello and Welcome to Chatsworth. Those are some damn beautiful girls in the fountain on the grounds. Left to Right: Lindsey, Kysha, Cassie, Kaari.



This is a piece by Frank Gehry that Tiffany&Co. had him design. I love Frank Gehry's work and I love Tiffany so it was cool to see. Also I thought it was interesting they had such a modern piece displayed in Chatsworth.


I was surprised to see this also in a older English manor house. I'm not really sure if its been there a while or what but I really like Budhas and this style so it was cool to see all of this all mixed together. He looks so happy!



That is Mr. Darcy. We are so in love! Look at that gaze. Ladies...be jealous.
Anyway a little background. They have a nice sculpture collection at Chatsworth and a few scenes of Pride and Prejudice were filmed there (along with everywhere else we've gone) so they made that sculpture and added it to the collection so that it was like it was Mr. Darcy's collection in the movie. I hope that makes sense. If not..sorry..i'm tired.

Blenheim

Hello all,
This weekend was pretty fun. As you can see already and I blogged about Stonehenge at the beginning of the weekend. On Saturday I made my way out to Mottingham to stay with the Milburns for Sat night and Sunday. Me and the boys did a little golfing at the driving range and then enjoyed a relaxing evening watching movies. Sunday was church and a great Father's Day dinner provided by Glen. Its very nice to have some familiar faces and time to just enjoy life and not be sightseeing all the time. Great to spend time with their family also.


Today is Monday, the first day of our last week in London. :( I'm sad but it will be interesting to move on and see Paris and Italy! We went to Blenheim Palace which is my favorite of the ones we've seen. I forgot to mention that in a lot of these big houses and palaces or castles or whatever it may be, we aren't allowed to take photos so thats why the majority are of the exterior. We did rapid sketches on our tour though so if any of you see them maybe you'll get an idea of the interior..maybe..


The grounds were very pretty. Large expanses of just green grass but well landscaped and maintained. We did a few silly pictures today. Sometimes we just get in these moods. Early day off today so we made our way back down to London and went shopping! Dinner..now home. Tomorrow we're doing Chatsworth so stay tuned. Miss you all!