the Christopher Columbus statue (he is pointing to America, but I'm not sure if it's accurately positioned or not)
the highest point in the city (four Ancient Roman columns are still intact and on display in a small cove beside the plaque denoting the elevation point)
Los Ramblas (a cute street with live human statues, a flower market and endless amounts of souvenir shops)
Park Guell (my absolute favorite with Gaudi art everywhere and beautiful views of the city)
Mont Juic (the palace now houses an art museum)
the Cathedral (the garden inside had palm trees!)
Sagrada Familia (the church/temple has been under construction for centuries and will never be used for an actual house of worship)
tons of street performers (a group of break dancers was the most notable)
the old bull fighting arena (just the outside)
the park of the victory arch (it seems that every major European city has one of these)
TWO OF MY HOUSEMATES!!! (we ran into Kylleen, Erin, and Erin's sister Katie on our way out of the park)
and THE BEACH! (too cold to swim or even wade, but I stuck my feet in and played in the sand)
Here I am up at Mont Juic with the city behind me.
Next up was France! My friend from high school, Rosie, is studying in Aix-en-Provence in Southern France, so I was able to spend 6 days with her. I couldn't get enough of the Mediterranean blue skies. It was fairly cold while I was there, and the day trip to Paris didn't give us very good weather. I did go to the Louvre, and it was really quite an enjoyable museum. I wasn't in so much awe of the Mona Lisa as I was with Venus and many other sculptures. I have discovered a love for sculptures that seemed to start with my visit to Vigelandsparken (the sculpture park) in Oslo, Norway. The Eiffel Tower was pretty amazing, but I just wish we would have had better weather to enjoy the day.
In front of the Louvre. I'm glad I brought my winter coat with me!
From France we flew to Rome! Now to be honest, the worst day of the entire trip was Easter Sunday when we got into Rome. The flight was easily the worst flight I have ever been on, and I was so flustered from the flight that I left my purse on the plane. I realized it soon enough to get it back, but that was a little too much "excitement" for me for one day. Getting to the housing for the night was another stressful "adventure" and I broke down at the bus stop. I was missing home. I knew that my closest friends from home would all be at church, and I really missed all of them. I just needed to cry, so I let myself go and felt better by the end of the day.
The next day was sightseeing and the weather was wonderful! It was just the change I needed, and I ended up loving the city. I was constantly reminded of the history and importance of everything around me. The Vatican was also amazing, and my visit to Rome ended well.
On our tour bus in front of the Coliseum.
I took a train from Rome to Milan and then a flight from Milan to Prague, Czech Republic. Andrea (a friend of mine from high school) has been studying in Prague for the semester, and I was able to stay with her for about 6 days as well. It was wonderful staying at her apartment. The flat had lots of visitors that week, so I spent one night on the floor, but it wasn't too bad for only one night. The city is incredibly large, and I know that I didn't see all that Prague has to offer, but I fell in love on the second day I was there. The second day was the day I discovered Old Town Square. There was an Easter market still set up with food and souvenirs, but most importantly food. Chocolate covered fruit and marzipan were my sweets of choice and a pastry-type thing that I had on the last day in a different area of town was absolutely amazing. The pastry is dough wrapped around a metal pole that is roasted over a fire and then rolled in cinnamon, sugar and almonds. It was delicious hot off the fire! We walked up millions of stairs to Prague Castle (not as impressive as the English ones), and we also walked across the Charles Bridge. We went through the Franz Kovka museum (very interesting although the set up was quite strange) and also saw the John Lennon wall. I loved simply sitting on the benches in Olde Town to people watch. The facades of the buildings looked like set pieces from a movie. I felt like I was on a movie set for a week, and I loved it!
The Charles Bridge is on the right in the background.
Prague was difficult to fly out of, so a flight to London Stansted and an evening in the Radisson was a lovely break from the norm. I took a nap, had a wonderful bath and watched the Manchester United/Roma game on the television. There were quite a few episodes of Nickolodeon shows that served as wonderful time passers. After a night of sleep it was back to the airport and on to Amsterdam!
Amsterdam was quite as I remembered it when we first got there. I legitimately remembered exactly where I was. I had been near the train station when Fran and family and I had gone on our canal boat tour, and when I was back at the station I recognized the area like it had been yesterday, instead of the three months that had actually passed. (Wow, I can't believe I've been gone so long!) So a tram ride later and after check in at the hostel it is on to exploring the city. After getting lost for quite a while I found a lovely cafe right next door to the Anne Frank House museum. I got a Snapple, used the bathroom, and got online for a while (the bathroom and internet were free to paying customers). I then ordered a tomato, mozzarella, and pesto panini and it was wonderful! Amsterdam was a much different city this time around. I saw the red light district, the Van Gough museum, stayed in a hostel with a smoking bar downstairs, and did some wonderful (although probably unnecessary) souvenir shopping.
I'm between the "I" and "am"...pretty cool art if you ask me.
Onto Northern Ireland to see Brandon! In the airport in Amsterdam a lovely couple offered to get us from Belfast to Derry, because that's where they were from. It was about 10pm or so and we got into Derry to the student village just before midnight. The weather was all over the place, much like the Indiana weather that I'm used to, but much colder than that time of year. It was good to catch up with Brandon, and although my sickness decided to pummel me during the weekend, Brandon was also experiencing some congestion and coughing, so we were sick together. I had some Guinness with my dinner one night and heard some genuine Irish music at a couple pubs while I was there.
Billy and Faye Gallagher, the lovely couple from the airport.
So that, in a somewhat short way, was my three weeks traveling around Europe. Of course there are things that I would liked to have changed, but I worked with the hand that I was dealt. It was an eye-opening experience, and I definitely learned a lot about myself. I hope I will be able to return to some of these places again sometime, but for now they remain a treasured memory of my semester across the pond.
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