Venice

So we saved the best Italian spot till last, Venice! Along with almost 100 Disney-Adventure-full-on-American parents, and their loud-full-on-American- kids, we arrived via train in Venice. This pic is from the train coming into the Venice Station.
Now, every guide book will tell you that one of the things you must do in Venice is get lost... This is something you don't have to try to do. This is something that just happens, very quickly. Within the first half hour we were lost, after lunch and checking into the hotel we were lost again. Didn't take long. See, in Venice at the start everything just kinda looks the same and at the end, to be honest, it's not much different. From very early on we ditched the maps. They are useless in Venice! Only half the streets have names. We decided to just follow the arrows that were on the wall every now and then that would eventually lead us to Piazza San Marco, the main square of Venice. From here we could find everything and we followed the same route everyday. On the way to the square we passed so many stores with masks of every size and glass from the island nearby. Everything was so beautiful.


When we arrived at the square we had a quick look around then made our way to the place where our Gondola ride would begin. We ended up being in a fleet of 11 gondola's for a trip through the tiny canals of Venice. Once Gondola, which remained in the middle, had a singer and an accordion player on it so we could all hear them.

The next day we followed the same route down to the Piazza (everyday we took a different route home, unintentionally) for an on land tour but not before I fed the pigeons!

It was actually a bit scary, I didn't want any pigeons to land on my head or arm which made me a bit jumpy so I didn't get as many pigeon fans as the other people. Not to mentioned there was an annoying Asian boy scaring them all off. We joined the tour and it was boiling hot so she was kind enough to always find the shade. We went inside the church (wearing our Catholic Clothes), saw the place where the story from the bible about the two women one baby decision was made and where Marco Polo lived for a short time. The guide was great because she was so passionate about Venice. She highlighted many of the problems that the city is having due the rising water which means that fire boats and ambulance boats can't make it under the bridges to help people. She also told us that every house in Venice has two doors, one from the canal and one from the footpath. There are no roads here.
We went for one more little tour after that one which was kind of joined on. This part though was on a boat and it went up the Grand Canal showing where all the rich people lived, the Rialto Bridge and some other things. The guide here sounded just like Heidi Klum somehow and let us stand up on the boat and all which was funner than just sitting. I don't know how she did it in heels though.
For our last day of Venice we just finished up a few things. We stole some rolls from our hotel breakfast to feed the pigeons. Today we got more and mum even had some on her arm. She was so brave, wearing her Rome dress and Florence shoes and all.
We also went up the bell tower today but it was better than all the others because... it had an elevator!!
During the time we were waiting to go up mum was worrying that it would go off because it was almost 12 or 1. Funny thing is that it did, and it was very loud.

After this we had lunch along the Grand Canal and saw the original Bridge of Sighs. That night Mum sent Sophie and I out to find some chips. Just chips. This is extremely hard in Italy to find Take Away chips. Now you may be thinking McDonald's but I never saw one in Venice, the only fast food related thing here that I witnessed was a paper Burger King Bag. But I don't know where they got it from because there was no Burger King as far as we knew. After what seemed ages of walking around our Piazza Roma we finally found somewhere. Mum got her chips, so did we, and we were able to watch the FIFA World Cup final in peace.

A long time ago, back when I was still in Australia, we had booked all flights for this trip. A few months ago EasyJet emailed us declaring that they cancelled our morning flight to Paris and put us on a more expensive afternoon flight. The next we made it to the airport and the first problem arose. Mum got the times wrong so we had to wait even longer for check in. Luckily Sophie had her Ipod touch so I could watch St. Trinians and she could go on the internet on her phone. Once we could check in a giant lined developed but I noticed everyone was kinda in the wrong one, so I went over to the next lady. Well, this didn't go down to well with the fellow passengers. They all began yelling at me in Italian and French, so I got back in the wrong line. Then they figured out I was right, so this giant stampede formed as people moved to the next checkouts. Stupid, stupid people. By now I just wanted to get out of Italy, I had really had enough of been taken as an American (because no other country speaks English so we must have been American) and dealing with people like this. It also must have been bitchy Italian day because the ladies working in the store we wanted to get some M&M's from just snatched the food from us. Then our flight was delayed, then there was another stampede to the gate, then another off the bus onto the plane. We told Sophie to not wait for us and to just get on the plane luckily she did and got us seats together. Finally we were in the air. Thanks EasyJet for the easy transfer. This was the only bad part of Venice.

Florence

Florence was my second favourite Italian city. We arrived on train and caught a taxi to our hotel which was about no more than a 5 minute walk from the train station. But we didn't know that at the time. The hotel, Hotel Universo, was awesome and arty, I highly recommend it. Every room is different and every floor has a different style. We landed with 'floral' and our room was black silver and a bit of orange. After checking in we went for a walk around and a bit of an expensive lunch all before our afternoon tour.
The tour started off really nice. We had a bus trip up through the country side where we could see a bit more of Tuscany with the sunflower fields and all. Also from the top of the hill we could see down into Florence, sadly the bus was never allowed to stop. The road was extremely narrow both up and down however on the way down our driver managed to hit a post, he kept going. By now, about 45 minutes into the tour another man and us all started to drift off to sleep. It was incredibly hard to stay awake and it just got worse as we then started walking towards the museum. The guide was incredibly boring and just droned on and on about places like this.
We finally get to the museum and whats the main focus? Jesus and Mary art. I couldn't have been more thrilled... Don't get me wrong I actually don't mind Jesus and Mary portraits I think they're quite nice but there were 100's in here and they all looked the same! The stand out painting in the museum was The Birth of Venus, I've always loved this picture and it was really cool to see the original and it was much larger than I imagined. The guide however kept talking and sweating and then he kinda just ended things and left us there. Three people had already left the tour which I think gave him a clear indication of some things. Sophie and I just wanted to get out and another member of our tour, an American film graduate, needed help getting back to the train station. This guy, I must mention, had the Dark Mark tattooed on his arm. Hehe, odd but cool. We made it back to the station and then to our hotel after Sophie paid something like 7€ for an ice cream. I told you it was expensive in Florence.

The next day was my birthday, yipee. It wasn't a very good birthday, but it was a good day. In the morning I got a pretty star necklace and lotto tickets from the Andersons which was the only present I actually got that day. But that's all ok, we went for a walk around after breakfast and to a bridge with lots of shops on it. They were all jewellery shops too.
We kept walking up along the river and found these locks which we put on the fence by people who loved each other. So, no Kieran, I'm sorry but it wasn't just someone who really loved their bike.
Then we found this cat! At first we thought he was stuck, then we figured out we wasn't but he was just down by the river on the little edge of the wall. Just chilling. Weird Italian cat.
Soon enough it was time for our next tour which would be taking us out to Pisa. As soon as we got off the bus in the carpark near the town entrance we were bombarded with people selling bags, water, umbrellas (again like in Rome) and all that. Really, they would stand at the door of the bus so it was hard to get out then follow you till you left the park. Once we were inside the city walls they were all gone and we could admire the tower and cathedral in peace. First impression was that the tower leans more than I imagined. We changed over tour guides and were taken into the cathedral where we could Galileo Galilee's light. It was here that he first realised (during church) that it had taken the light the same amount of time to get from one end of the swing to the centre point on each sides. Clever clever.
The cathedral is also on a slant like the tower. If you had a ball and put it on the ground on the inside it would roll in the same direction as the tower of Pisa does. Also this is the reason the light above doesn't hang in the direct centre of Jesus face in the painting, because its on a tilt. The guide thought this was the easiest question in the world but none of us got it. A little fact though, the Baptistery at the front leans in the other direction, so the ball would roll in the opposite direction to which the leaning tower leans.
We didn't go inside the tower because there wasn't enough time but walking around was interesting. You could see the cables holding it up and everything. Sophie made me do the horrible tourist photo like the other 100 people.
I think this next photo is really good because it shows how much it leans away from the church.
When we got back into Florence we went for a little walk and to buy a nutella crepe for soph and some of these fruit cups that the stores were selling. Basically a giant plastic cup with cut up fruits in it. Main point is we saw this guy who had two fully dogs in the back basket of his bike and they even had little seat belt things. It was so cute.
Our last day in Florence was the funnest by far. In the morning we went for a look inside this church, it was okay but the outside is much better with the green tiles and all.
Then we walked up 100's of stairs, again, to get to the top of this bell tower.
To see these views...
It was spectacular up there, a full look of Florence. I'd show more pictures but they all kind of look the same with the red roofs. In the afternoon came the most anticipated part of Florence, the Segway tour! Believe me, they really are as fun as they look. At first everyone was a bit wobbly. We were teamed up with a man and his two kids from Holland so there was 6 in the group. We were all taught how to stop, reverse, park and drive. When I first hopped on I was surprised by how lightweight they were. I always imagined them to be heavy and that you really had to push them forward but in the end the slightest movement had you going. Once everyone was ready we went off and everybody was staring at us and asking where they could get them from. We went to heaps of places during the tour even to a square where the guide had her first apartment, first concert and first kiss.
At the end of the tour I could barley feel my feet, the easy way of getting round actually hurt. None of us crashed or had an accident, though the guide ran over an old Chinese mans foot. He wasn't impressed. We were given an extra 10 minutes at the end where we could do whatever we wanted so we all zoomed off. We ended up at a piazza that we were at before and the lady had told us not to ride over it however somehow my segway ended up on the edge then I had no control. It just sped forward on the tiles and I couldn't slow it down. Eventually I got to the edge but that was the only problem I had.

That night we just took it easy again and had dinner in the piazza out front of our hotel. We originally just went out for some chips but ended up getting a whole meal. It was nice to be out there though as the piazzas are really popular meeting points so lots of different people were there. And this was the end of Florence.

Good life

This song really makes me excited for the next part of my trip that starts in less than one week! The first line of the song is 'Woke up in London yesterday' - this will be Mum, Soph and I next week!!

Iceland

Why be afraid of Volcanoes in Iceland when there's this? I love it.

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Eurovision!

Tonight is the Eurovision Final! I'm so excited as Lena, Germany's entry, is tipped to win. Even if she doesn't I'm still happy because from her first song during the German qualifying rounds I went for her and she won! So cool when you pick the winner right from the start. Lena's song, Satellite, has been on the radio here non-stop for over a month now so I think everyone is a little sick of it but she's still adored I believe. Here's the song, Steffen and I always shamelessly sing along. We know all the words by now... Shamefully.

Phase 2

Phase 2 of my gap year is approaching with an unbelievable amount of speed and let me tell you, I could not be more excited. The strangest of things is that the destination I am the most excited for right now is.... Turkey !? Turkey of all countries in my 'local area' is not one I had plans on visiting. Never in my life had I even wanted to go to Turkey. Ok, maybe for a Gallilpoli pilgrimage one day but then get out of there you know. The Turkish people in Offenbach are slightly annoying too so that made me even more against Turkey. To top it of the only two places in that country I know are Istanbul and Gallipoli.

So, why am I going there and why am I excited?
Well, Michelle, my cousin/ backpack buddy really wanted to go. I skimmed over the tour and decided okay, why not. Time passed and last week we spent from 2pm till 9:30pm booking and planning our backpacking trip. It's going to be full on! Anyway The other day at work I had a free hour so I decided to look at some of these Turkey places on flickr, since I had no idea where or what they were. I still don't, but at least I know what they look like. In the first 5 minutes I was hooked. Turkey is like Greece but more eastern. It is unbelievably beautiful, I just cannot wait. Much of the tour is on the coast so we go to the beach alot and kayak over sunken cities. I didn't even know of such things! And I'm sure the mud bath included will be great after our giant tomato fight in Spain.

Besides Turkey we're going to (in order): Amsterdam, Ireland (Belfast, Dublin, Giant's Causeway), Barcelona, Valencia, Bunol, Turkey tour ( http://www.traveltalktours.co.uk/traveltalk_turkey_td1.htm), Greek Island tour ( http://www.traveltalktours.co.uk/traveltalk_greece_gs.htm), Athens and then possibly Prague. So to give you all a little sneak preview of some of my destinations I've found some clips on youtube. beforehand.







This one's just funny,



And I should maybe get myself some of this stuff

Heating Up

My reason for not blogging for a fair few days is simply that the weather here has just been too good to be inside for a long time. We've been rolling around in the mid to high 20's and it doesn't get completely dark till 10pm. So most days I've been on my bike riding to Frankfurt or up the river in Offenbach. I love how here you can go out on any random sunny day and see something out of the ordinary. Like the other day I was riding along in the park and there was an orchestra in the gazebo. It was so Grandma. Nevertheless I sat down in the sun with my bike and made a good ol' daisy chain while listening.

The day Before Steffen and I had pizza down by the river in Frankfurt again. A few days after that I even got a sunburn from lying in the park for an hour. Marco Steffen and I rode our bikes and razor scooter to the park which is on the way to Frankfurt to play some football which was really fun. Steffen made friends with this powder puff dog which wouldn't stop barking at him while following him.

This is a Bierbike they peddle and give you beer.

From where I ride my bike into Frankfurt along the Main

And this is the two weird boys I hang out with...

Most recently though Lucy, Marco, Steffen and I met up and went to the 'Beach Club' which at first was really weird. It's an area between to ways of water that is built up and is fully sand with sun beds, large beach cushions, deck chairs plus bars with lounge areas and so on. We played beach volleyball and football and just laid in the sun which was perfect. However afterwards the 'sand', if you could call it that, had made my feet completely black. I really can't remember the last time I had such black feet. Felt so dirty. After we went to the Eis Cafe and got large ice creams then came home and Steffen and I watched 500 days of Summer. Besides having to work the morning it was a great day.

Now everything is rainy again.

The Hills Jnr

I really have to share this reenactment of the popular MTV show, The Hills. If I remember I watch the show on weekdays at 2:30 after work but unfortunatly it's very old episodes. Anyway I came across this on another blog, I love 'Audrina', so cute!

Paris

After the Dawn Service Steffen and I headed south for Paris. The drive was short (2 hours) with a short nanny nap for Steffen half way. Like most cities do, as I've discovered, Paris just popped out of nowhere. We went across a bridge and suddenly without any warning the Eiffel Tower was standing above all other buildings (besides the CBD area with it's skyscrapers) as it has for many of years. I was so excited clapping my hands as if I were 5 and after a quick text to mum I put my ipod on to listen to La Vie En Rose by Edith Paif and Moi Je Jou by Brigette Bardot to get the Paris feel going. Plus I had to as I got them of Soph only the morning before because I refused to go to France let alone Paris without Edith and Brigette.

Then Navi directed us into an extremely long 'where's the light at the end?' tunnel. We had no idea where we were going but as soon as we went up the little hill out of the tunnel the Arc De Triomphe was right in front of us! Who knew we'd come out of Champs Elysees? From here on things got a little hectic and I got a little scared for my life. Paris has a problem. Many of the roads have no lines. Meaning when you go around the Arc De Triomphe it kind of becomes a free for all. You've got to get in, this is easy, but eventually (after a circle or two around the building) you've gotta get out. Navi was going mental, I wanted to make a movie, and Steffen wanted to get out of it. We were very lucky it was early Sunday morning. To show see the craziness of no lines in a few seconds watch the vids below, they are very bad but still, I will get better one's in July.


We drove around looking for parking for ages while I stared out the window at the patisseries who's cakes looked like inedible artworks. Finally we found an expensive parkhouse and began to explore Champs Elysees. After a short while I spotted Laduree, I was, in that moment, the happiest girl in Paris. Finally, finally, finally, I could buy my macarons. I love this shop so much that it shall have it's own blog post so I can continue on with Paris.

Moving on, we then strolled down the avenue with all the designer shops and I saw the Dior store from the Miss Dior Cheri ad. It was so pretty. We wanted to then ride bikes but they cost too much and we needed a credit card to use them as they didn't take cash. So we kept walking on and reached the Eiffel Tower. I think we spent about 5 minutes just evaluating it. It's fatter than we imagined, bigger than we thought but overall just as impressive as we ever dreamed. It's funny though because it pops out at you like this:

We walked underneath the tower and it became so windy which was a hassle because I was wearing a short black dress. The lines to go up the tower were enormous and this was also our first experience with the street sellers. Men would come up to you and try to sell you little Eiffel Towers non stop. And I really mean non stop. We experienced these people the whole time we were around the tower. Even in the section further away from the tower where you go to get a good photo. It was beyond annoying and in a way ruined my Eiffel Tower experience.

By this time we were dying for a croissant and frustratingly we could not find one bakery. Everything was more like an eat in cafe or restaurant. After walking down many streets, which are all very beautiful, we found Lenotre. This place was a bakery and patisserie and a wine store all in one and had really good chocolate croissants. We then made our way back to Champs Elysees so in a way we walked in a giant circle. We went under the giant round about in a tunnel and up and around the Arc De Triumphe.


On our way to Paris I said I will not buy Macca's in Paris but our location only offered high price ranges and we wanted something fast and to go because we were getting really tired. Soo embarrassingly we went to McDonald's but also brought more macarons at McCafe then walked down Champs Elysee's with a giant McDonald's bag. Not cool. However once in the car and eating, it was very satisfying. Driving out of Paris was like watching a movie and making a mental checklist of everything I must see in July with Mum and soph. The old building were beyond gorgeous and unbelievably large. Thank god Paris was never bombed, a reason for its beauty no doubt.

So our 3 hour stint in Paris was complete we got the things we wanted and were more than ready to leave due to our tiredness. On the way home (a 5-6hr drive) we came across one too many Peage's. These are tolls, to drive on any road in France you have to pay. The most expensive one we had was 13.60€! So it was a very expensive trip back, hence we drove through Belgium the first time. And that is my first trip to Paris done, cannot wait for number 2 which will be 4 days in July.