"Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome, focus forward on the coliseum" - Phoenix

When we arrive in Rome, it is around midnight and we decide to take a taxi into the city. Driving through Rome at night as an introduction is one of the coolest things ever. Our taxi driver was a very sweet Italian man who would point out all the items of interest. As we crossed a bridge we saw St. Peter's Basilica in the distance. We flew by ancient Roman ruins and the next thing I know, we're driving right next to the coliseum. Rome is awesome.

Our hostel, however, was not. And to all of our disappointments, none of us took a picture of it to show everyone just how bad it was. The staff was quite unpolite. The room was dark and dingy and there were 12 of us. Sharing one bathroom. Quite miserable. But we had internet to curbe our bad moods and fell asleep (me watching American Idol auditions... yes, I have resorted to that).

The next morning we took it easy and decided to try our hand at Rome on foot. We thought Prague was big. Through twists and turns we did find many buildings that were famous (don't really know their role but we took pictures of them, nevertheless), walked right past where the Amanda Knox trials were being held, and stopped at the most adorable pizzeria ever with cheap & delicious pizza & bruschetta.

We realized our proximity to the Spanish Steps and I was put on a mission. I wanted a gelatto to eat on the steps so I would look like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. All I was going to miss was Gregory Peck. After going on a witch hunt for that gelatto (and getting a true taste of Italian men... they love to wink) I succeeded in getting my wish. I was a very happy girl indeed. Meanwhile, Matt got Gypsied. The rest of us knew what was happening but we just had to laugh and keep an eye on his wallet... The pickpocketing is very sketchy in Rome and it was a different type of atmosphere from Amsterdam and Prague.

Josh proceeded to figure out where the Trevi Fountain was and we trekked over there to see one of the most amazing sites I think I have ever seen. I don't think there is a way to describe how huge the fountain is. It juts out of a building and is perfect. The marble, the anatomy and structure of the people sculpted. Everything. So naturally we had to take millions of pictures as well as throw a coin behind our backs and make a wish :)

We planned to make the next stop the Pantheon but somehow got off track and discovered another large building that was cool and unknown to us, but also the Roman fort ruins and the walk towards the Coliseum. It's surreal that the crumbling rock I was walking next to was built by some of the earliest civilizations and I was there to see it. The Coliseum was massive and quite cool. When we returned to Uni and some woman was giving us a Lanc city history lesson, she went on about some dinky little bathhouse ruin and I looked at my friend and go "Not so impressive once you see the Coliseum". The arena that I had seen and sat in in Nimes, France years ago does not even compare to the coliseum. Unfortunately, it cost 40 euro to go inside and we're poor so we had to skip. But it was still worth it.

Later on we met up with Adam & Arik from the Lanc program who were there for their last night before London with their family. That was really nice to see them and I great enjoyed having a bonding moment or two with Adam, the shy twin. The next morning, Elena & I were tired of waiting for the guys, so we took to the Vatican all by ourselves.

It was one of the hottest days and naturally, to go through the museum to see the Sistine Chapel, you must have your shoulders and above your knees covered. When we arrived, the line to see the Pope was unbearable in the heat so we just took pictures and headed to the museum. The first hour of the museum was awesome seeing some of the most beautiful artwork I've ever seen (however, Carole Small would be so proud that I recognized the characteristics of Renaissance art and how it is not eclectic). It was very repetitive though ("Oh hey that's a good picture of Jesus breaking bread..." "Didn't we just see this?" "No he's wearing blue in this one... the last one it was red... I think?") that by the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, not only were we in some ways let down, but also not allowed to take photos. Cheap. It was cool seeing the creation of Adam but I think there was less hype actually in front of it than I was expecting. Elena attempted to be sneaky and hide her camera while she took the picture, but it accidentally flashed and some security guard dressed in civilian clothes yelled at her. She looked back and it was a picture of her finger :(. You also are not allowed to talk in the chapel and every 5 minutes, there is a man solely there to "shh" you. But it's still neat that I get to say I've seen the Sistene Chapel.

My most "Oh Rome" moment though was when Elena & I returned to the Gelateria by the Spanish Steps to meet a cute Italian waiter who spoke perfect English and when told we didn't get to see the Pantheon said he would take us there when he got off work. Don't worry, we didn't go, we had more sense than that, but it was still cool to feel like "Oh I'm in Rome, some Italian boy offered to take me to see the Pantheon at night, laddi da". When in Rome...

Everyone had been exhausted and were ready for a chill night, so we went to a not so good restaurant next to the Coliseum. Food, bad. View, incredible. Rome was conquered in 2 days (phew!)

That's when we had to wake up for a 7 am train to Florence...

PICTURES!

[Obelisks and Planes, The Police of Rome, Spanish Steps 1 & 2, The Five in front of the Trevi Fountain]

[Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain, Large building we're not sure of..., Roman ruins, Man with a Cross & Roman soldier?, Me at the Coliseum 1 & 2, Inside the Vatican museum, Rome at night!]

"I'm all wrapped up in Prague, I'm all wrapped up in you" - Damien Rice

...So no one could tell Elena what to do now that her money pouch was on the way to Bratislava. Finally, some woman suggested that we should ask the train when it returned at 6 that night. Plan under way.

We set out in Praha (Czech spelling) for the hotel thinking it was only a block or two away. Blocks in Praha are double the size of blocks in NYC. Prague's train station is also at the bottom of a big hill in Stare Mestro (Old Town), and our hotel was right in the center of Nove Mestro (New Town) at the top. As we are carrying our luggage, walking uphill, trying to find Hotel Adalon, it starts to rain. I'm leading the group but have my glasses on which did not help with the pouring rain. We notice that street numbers do not go sequentially even and odd (1, 3, 5 etc) but go 47, 53, 69, 71... no one knows why. We get to where 1885 is (yes, we started at 1) and the only hotel there is not named Hotel Adalon. It's raining, there are no more hotels on this street, we're at the address and in front of us is this gorgeous yellow hotel with a different name. Elena and I walk in to ask them where the hotel is starting with "We know we're not at the right place but...". The clerk looks at our paper and says "Oh, this is us, we changed our name." Mouths drop to the floor. This place has fancy lighting, chandeliers, glass doors, cherub paintings and statues everywhere. This was the second cheapest hotel we booked. We went to our rooms and Elena and I discovered that not only were we staying in style with a king size bed and plasma tv but also skylights. [Me right when we discovered our room, Our bathroom]

I love Prague.

We all took naps and the boys went out for a bite to eat (Elena & I were gonna attempt the one meal a day plan...) but by 4:30 we could not get a hold of them so Elena and I decided to conquer on our own. First stop - train station to try and get her money pouch. After waiting for a long time and talking to maybe the one Czech person who was fluent (and understandable) in English, we went up to the platform to see our nice overnight train. Elena asked multiple conductors to this train if they found a pouch - all saying no and literally turning, walking away from her and ignoring her. Finally, she forced some man to tell her who to contact and he gave her an email address. Lovely. So Elena's things are in some bin somewhere in Eastern Europe (and don't worry we cancelled her cards right then so we were responsible in some aspects!).

We left for the restaurant we told the boys to meet us at and ordered the largest, best beers of our life. Witbier. I actually ordered banana Witbier first which was interesting but very good. The beers they brought us cost as much as a 1 pint of the worst on tap in England and were the size of at least 2, maybe 3 pints. And it was delicious (it had a very Corona-y taste to it). We then ordered our huge meals, also costing what normally would be pub fare back on the island. Elena and I were in heaven. The boys, however, never showed up and the waitresses definitely thought we were crazy Americans trying to look like we had friends.

So after our DELICIOUS meal, Elena & I were feeling pretty good and thought we should try and see what Praha was like (it was only 8). We ended up purchasing the most delicious cookies and heading to an almost empty English sports bar off of Wencesles Square. There we tried Pilsner which is, by far, the worst beer on earth. But we did make friends with the bartenders (as the boys said later, if you didn't, it wouldn't be Sarah and Elena) who taught me how to say "please" & "Thank you" and other words in Czech - all of which I could tell you but I'm guaranteed to say wrong. We also watched Czech idol which was hilarious because we would go "Are they good?" "No," says the bartender... "What is he saying?" "He says they are no good." Maybe you would have to be there but after seeing our American Idol, watching X-Factor back on the island (the Original AI), we were LOVING Czech Idol. Especially when they sang a song in English. [Our bartender amigo & Elena... I think his name was Peter... but I really couldn't understand what he said]

It was about 10 by that time, so we decided to call it a night and get out of the city before it got too dangerous (which come to find out, Prague is actually pretty safe if you're on the buddy system... no one even looked at us) and went to bed, hoping the boys would call us in the morning...

And then 5 am rolled around and we had maybe the loudest banging on our door that you can imagine. Elena and I stared at each other for a good minute and a half debating on opening the door (there aren't peep holes in Europe) but I was convinced that is was the boys. When there was a break in the knocks, I heard Josh stiffel a laugh and we opened the door to 3 quite inebriated American boys who proclaimed their love for Prague after the bar crawl they had been on. We kicked them out with thoughts of giving them quite the early wake up call.

The next day was an exploration of Prague. Old Town is absolutely gorgeoues - the cobblestoned streets are lined with pastel buildings that are so pretty. Apparently, Prague is an architectural hot spot. Down in the square there are many large churches and the famous Astronomical Clock that puts on this display every hour with the apostles and Jesus, and apparently Judas turns away to Jesus (even though I didn't catch that) and it's a big deal. It is pretty cool but the mass of crowds that it brought was unbelieveable. I guess it's because the Czech are so proud of this clock that rumor has it when the maker made it, they imprisoned him so he couldn't go leave and make another for another city or something like that and then they killed him. Lovely.

We stumbled upon many interesting things through our day walk including a girl from Doylestown who was doing bar crawls (yes, we'll get to that later), a Kafka statue, many more crazy buildings, fun toy stores, and back allies with synagoges (and I think we saw Chopin's birthplace, but I'm not necessarily sure because I can't read Czech...). We decided to clean up and eat in the Old Town Square for dinner and then join Lucia (Doylestown girl) for a bar crawl. The dinner was absolutely amazing, outside on a terrace that was beautiful and full of life. The Czech are not as relaxed and welcoming as the Dutch, but they certainly are nice enough that you feel at home just sitting around, watching the life. Every night there is actually some type of entertainment in the Old Town Square and after a not so great opera singer, there was a heavy metal band. That sang in Czech. Quite intriguing.

The boys insisted on a bar crawl with the girls that turned into an actually lovely time. I met a bunch of Australian rugby players who were loads of fun and in return for them teaching me about the land down under (my aussie accent is aces), I taught them how to play flip cup, and my favorite one, Tom, how to play beer pong. Naturally, he was my favorite because when he found out I was from Pennsylvania he said "Are you a Nittany Lion?" - Sounds little but people knowing where PA is let alone that PSU is there is impressive. He's from where Maggie goes to school and lives about an hour away from Lancs now so we compared notes of everything which was quite entertaining. I also stayed away from the Pilsner and tried Absinthe, which I found highly disgusting. Maybe if I were to have sucked it up and drank more I would have found out what all the fuss was about? Probably better that I didn't... [The Aussies (Tom in the blue shirt across from me) & Elena & Me playing Flip Cup]

The next morning before our night flight to Rome, we walked the river and saw Charles Bridge. We were all exhausted from the travels (and the boys two bar crawls were taking a toll on their moods which Elena & I did not appreciate) and were excited to see Rome. We weren't excited to see the prices of Italy, however...

To be continued (and pictures again!)

[- The five of us in front of the Vlatva - Me & Elena - The boys Absinthe drinks (woah Green!) - Charles Bridge- Aussie Tom & Me - The National Museum of the Czech Republic - Prague at night - Bed like in Sex & The City - Street Lamp - Velvet Revolution Memorial - Kafka statue - 3 Pictures for of the Old Town Square - Tower - Wencesles Square]

"Baby went to Amsterdam, put a little money into traveling" - Peter Bjorn & John

I'M BACK! And safe. Dad sent me an email asking if I was in the UK & if I was alive. Here is me attesting to the fact that I am back in the UK & I am alive. It's been a manic two weeks and it's proving to be another manic couple ahead being freshers week this week & first week of official classes next. But I'm going to split up the places on my trip so we get thorough (and hopefully enjoyable) anecdotes of my true European adventures.

First stop: Amsterdam, Netherlands

After catching the bus, walking to the train station, grabbing a train to Manchester Airport (where we met the most delightful young family of six moving to Australia - phew), and hitting up a flight to Amsterdam, Josh, Matt, Craig, Elena & I were in Amsterdam. The laid back attitude of the Dutch (oh yeah, they are awesome - yay my heritage!) was felt before we even grabbed our backpacks when the customs officials asked "Coming for the weekend?" and were satisfied with "yes" as the answer to enter their country. We grabbed a train and accidentally sat in first class, which was ok with the conductor. Our tram ride to the hostel could have been free because the conductor didn't feel like checking tickets. Amsterdam.

[Josh walking down the streets of Amsterdam]. The city at night was gorgeous - Christmas lights were everywhere lighting up houses & bridges and even bicycles! The tram ran slower than life itself, we literally were passing it at times walking to the hostel. That is why everyone rides bikes in Amsterdam (well that and most of the streets are pedestrian). I was totally in love. When we arrived at Hans Bruker (our hostel) there were parties going on everywhere, Uni students from across the world checking in and out, even Marketing Reps who apparently were there for a huge conference in the town. We luckily got our own room which made the whole traveling part a little better. Then we set off to see Amsterdam at night. Everywhere you turned there were Coffee Shops mixed with homes next to sex shops across from family restaurants. Everything goes in Amsterdam. Much of the city is tourist mixed with residential which was really nice and the whole trip we felt a lot safer than expected. Everyone seemed to be so relaxed that we think that the crime rate is solely represented by tourists on crazy weekends.

It was a beautiful night and we traveled to Leidseplein a smaller square filled with street performers and ample amounts of restaurants including the Pancake House where there was the Steelers Game (for Josh) and a the apparently famous Dutch Pancakes. We ended up enjoying a hearty meal, grabbing drinks at an outdoor Pub to people watch and then returning to our quiet, residential street to continue our people watching on a park bench. One of the most enjoyable experiences, in my opinion.

[Me on our street, Our street - everything is crooked and gingerbread looking, Clog shop!, Coffee Shop on our street appropriately named Happy Feelings]

The full day in Amsterdam was mainly spent discovering the city. Amsterdam is relatively small and easy to cover on foot. The shops were quite European but some of my favorites were the ones selling cheese or shrooms. Something you don't see often next to each other, well, anywhere. And it was totally normal. We wandered our way around and found the Red Light District - Day Style. In every window was a woman (or woMAN) working the streets. Some were dancing others were having a smoke or talking on the phone. In broad daylight. My favorite moment was when a mother was taking her child in a stroller into their house which was right above one of the ladies lairs. I wish I could have taken a picture to capture the moment but pictures are strictly forbidden due to it being disrespectful. However, the oldest church in Amsterdam, Olde Kerk, is there and that is acceptable for pictures. Funny how the oldest place of worship is smack dab in the middle of this center (but should it surprise me when my favorite bar in England is in a church?).

[Olde Kerk, Me and the Canal with the Red Light District in the back]

Due to us saving up for other attractions that cost money, we did not go inside (you'll notice this happens a lot going down the line) but we did happen to find a famous sculpture in the street that is literally right next to Olde Kerk. I'll see if you guys can figure out what it is (should not be hard). Unfortunately, I was the one who stumbled upon it... not even knowing it was famous or anything. Kinda like the time I found the penis in the old Roman fort by Hadrian's Wall. I really need to stop or people are going to start talking!

After stumbling upon Hard Rock Cafe (yes, very American but the boys were insistant) we ended back at our hostel around 4-5 and took a 3 hour nap to rejuvenate for dinner and a trip back to the Red Light District - Night. The minute we stepped on that turf after the sun had gone down, it was a new area. There were men EVERYWHERE (Elena and I were literally the only two girls in 20 ft at all times - well that weren't in a window) gawking at the ladies and yes, even bargaining with them. That was the scariest part - when the prostitutes would open the door and Elena and I are just standing there with revolted faces plastered to our faces. The whole night around there was definitely a cultural experience. It's so amazing how everyday life is mixed with sex and drugs like it is no big deal. I liked that it was that way but I also liked there are some things that we keep behind closed doors in America. That and it's so sad that women feel like they have to stoop to that level for an occupation - God Bless America (yes, I know there is prostitution there but it's different haha). However, ending the night with fries, ketchup and mayonnaise sealed the deal of Amsterdam being awesome.

The next morning we checked out, stored our packs, and took another stroll around the 'Dam to get to the Anne Frank Huis. It was a surreal moment, especially for me it seemed, because of all the times I've read the book, all the shows and movies I've seen, everything just amazed me that I was there standing in her room, looking at her walls. The diary was standing by itself in a random part of the museum that most people didn't realize it was there and I got to stand staring at it for a good 5 minutes, just by myself. I couldn't grasp that I was there looking at her tiny handwriting in the flesh and blood. I wish I could have taken a picture, but of course that wasn't allowed. Even though it was a bit of a damper on the day, it was more than worth going and all of us were glad we did it. Of course, to liven our spirits we had the best falafels in the world though.

After more discoveries, we headed to the train station for an overnight train to Prague. Thankfully, Elena and I were with 2 Americans from Ohio and 2 Australian girls, but the boys were stuck with 2 Portugese-speaking-only girls. The cabins were tinier than you can imagine and no one who worked on the system spoke English. It was definitely an experience (I am never going to go for having again). The train even split with the front half going off to Russia. I was positive Shia LaBeouf or his identical twin was on the train and tried to find him, at least for a picture, until I realized that split was where he was, and as much as I would love to be stranded with Shia, I thought I would pick another time and place. Don't worry, Mom and Dad :)

When we awoke, thankfully in the Czech Republic (yes, thankfully in Eastern Europe), we gathered our things and stepped off into an even more foreign land only to have Elena realize she left her money pouch on the train that was leaving the platform.........

To be continued! Now here are some pictures from the 'Dam!

BICYCLES! & Flower Markets










Bakeries everywhere & The train station

Canal & Elena, Josh, Craig & Matt (I'm paparazzi)

Chess Game & Carnival music












Me with one of the many elephants around Amsterdam (kinda like the cows in Central PA) & the church Anne Frank saw out her window and wrote many entries about













Probably one of my favorite pics & The many horse posts with the 3 X's symbolizing Amsterdam

Quick shot of a street performer & The Five

Below: The most hilarious thing about Amsterdam - The Urination Station - Found on every popular street corner and square. Yes, I have now seen dozens of men pee...