Tecktonik, c'est magnifique!

Not much happening here. The weather has been all up and down last week. It goes from sunny to rainy and back and forth every single day. I've been to a lot of different museums this past week. On Saturday I went to the Musee Marmottan, which is my favorite museum I've been to in Paris; the only one that wasn't free for me. At least I got a discount.

I went to the Louvre again twice, and the Musee d'Orsay on Thursday. One day at the Louvre, I met this really old French man who seemed like a grandfatherly type so I went to coffee with him. But then when we left he kept using the word "l'amour" so I figured it was time for me to go. I went to see the Mona Lisa, and it was such a fight! People really elbow each other, and push, and jostle to get to the front.

Thursday night I went to Duplex since it's so close by. Friday, I went to lunch with Nilo and then the Opera Garnier to try to get tickets to the ballet (in the rain...), but it was a private showing since it was the last day of the performance. I'll try a different show next week. Today I went to the Fragonard Perfume Museum and shopping at Les Galeries Lafayette with Serena. I tried a lemon Laduree macaroon and it was yummy.

I've also been taking an alternative route to and from school, where I walk right under the Eiffel tower. I think it's longer, but I was so bored with taking my usual route several times a day, that I decided to switch it up. I also walk past this place at Trocadero which is where all the tourists go to take pictures of the Eiffel tower. Sometimes I see young French "hipsters" practicing their tecktonik, which is a dance trend popular in Europe right now, especially Paris. It seems sort of juvenile since all the people I see doing it look like they're 13 years old. But Serena and I continue to look up instruction videos on YouTube, and practice, laughing all the while because it's a pretty ridiculous-looking dance.

I also discovered 2 new grocery stores right by my house, as well as a shortcut to Serena's place that takes only 10 minutes, so we've been hanging out more. I've been looking for summer au pair jobs lately; I have an interview on Tuesday for a job that's really close by, so that would be good if I got it.

And tonight, we're going to a discotheque on Champs Elysees called Neo. I'd been meaning to go for a while, and I saw that this was the club Lauren and Whitney went to on The Hills, which made me even more eager to go.

3-Day Easter Weekend

So yesterday, I made it to the first two museums, but not the third. I went to the Musee Picasso and sadly was not impressed at all. I kept thinking, I'm so glad I didn't have to pay for this! I walked through everything twice, trying to find a painting I liked, but I couldn't.

Next stop, the Musee de l'Orangerie, located in the Tuileries gardens. While I was in line, I met two boys from Belgium, students on holiday, and ended up perusing the museum with them. I liked the museum, but only the upstairs part, with the huge Monet panels that wrap around the room. And you can take pictures here, which is always appreciated.

This morning I set out for the Musee Marmottan, which has mostly Monet paintings. This was my favorite museum of all and the only one that wasn't free for me. At least I got a reduced rate. Monet is easy to appreciate; it was the only museum where I liked just about every single painting. I know mom would have loved it.

On my way back, I stopped in a patisserie and now have a new favorite macaroon! Pomme canelle (apple cinnamon). I've never seen the flavor anywhere else. I concluded the museum tour with the Musee de Art Moderne de la Ville (or something like that). I didn't stay long, though, because on the way there it started HAILING, practically snowing. It's what I imagine a snow flurry feels like. I had an umbrella, but my feet were soaked by the time I got there.

Little things...

So I went to the Louvre for hours first thing in the morning on Wednesday, and now I'm on this whole museum kick. Today after class, I plan on going to the Picasso Museum, Orangerie Museum (Monet), and then the Museum of Modern Art, one right after another. And on Saturday, I want to go to this Marie Antoinette exibit at Les Galeries Nationale.


Going to museums isn't like going shopping, where it's always fun to do it with a friend. I mean, sometimes it's fun to go to museums with a friend, but I prefer just going by myself with my I-pod. I hate it when the person I'm with wants to spend forever looking at something boring, or when I want to look at something cool but someone is rushing me.

At the Louvre, the two most famous works of art are the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. It was so weird the way the giant crowds were swarming the works of art, frantically taking pictures, pushing, hysterically trying to get a good view. And the art is blocked off and surrounded by security guards. It was SO reminiscent of watching paparazzi stalk a celebrity, surounded by bodyguards. It reminded me of when I went to fashion week to see the celebrities. All the Louvre needs to complete the image is to have the crowds screaming, "Mona, Mona, show us that smile!! Venus, look this way, darling! You're gorgeous!"


Oh, and I'm annoyed because this morning, I asked for a caramel macaroon and they gave me coffee! I didn't realize until I was here at school, eating it. I don't like coffee.

I got Marissa a birthday present from this boutique near Palais Royal...

Also, I just bought these shiny black leggings the other day and I've been wearing them ever since. I love them! I know they'll lose their shine, eventually though. Maybe I should get another pair. The only bad thing is that they don't keep me warm at all, but the weather hasn't been TOO cold.

I went to the Sorbonne the other day to eat lunch and buy a sweater, but I couldn't find the bookstore and I didn't feel like asking anyone. I want to go back, though. There were a lot of young people there, obviously, and it seems like their college has more of a campus, community feeling, totally unlike AUP.


I signed up for my Le Cordon Bleu cooking class this morning! It's in a few weeks, and I'm going to learn how to make lemon pound cake and lime macaroons.

Italy! Part Three

First of all, thank you mom and dad for fixing my debit card! Now I can actually go grocery shopping and not feel like I'm on the brink of starvation.


So for the second week in Italy, Emily went back to Paris and I spent the week in hostels with Serena. We first checked into the hostel Saturday morning. I keep telling dad how surprised I am that our hostel was so nice, but it really was. It's called the BellaRoma hostel, it's near the Vatican and wasn't very hard to find since I had directions. Serena and I staked out a corner; she took the bottom bunk and I took the top. After 2 days though, she took the top bed next to mine so we could talk easier. We kept spreading out, taking up more and more room. There weren't many people staying there, which was nice because Serena and I often had the room to ourselves, and we were always able to use the computer whenever we wanted. The hostel had a kitchen so we made pasta a couple times. We nicnamed ourselves "the hostile witches" and then later "the hostel cats." It was funny because the second hostel didn't have a kitchen, so we had to keep our food in odd places...

Me: Where's the butter?
Serena: In my pocket.
Me: And the salad?
Serena: Under the bed.

I think I was better at Italian than I am at French. You pronounce things the way they are spelled and if you just wave your arms around a lot, like they do, your Italian sounds even more legitimate. Although now that I'm back in Paris, for some reason my French feels more natural to me. It only took 2 months of living here to feel somewhat comfortable! I wish I had a bigger vocabulary, because i generally use the same phrases over and over again, which is why they now feel so natural. In Italy, we kept saying "ciao bella" and "andiamo" (lets go) and we never got tired of saying it!

So anyway, I don't remember the exact order we did everything the second week, because it wasn't structured like the tour, but I'll try. On Saturday we were both tired so we wandered around our area, went shopping, and bought groceries. There were a lot of outdoor markets and stands because it was Saturday. I perused the aviator sunglasses, but I didn't buy any until later that week (5 euros). Ooh, but Serena and I found some amazing necklaces for only 1 euro each that were strands of semiprecious stones! I saw a bunch of women crowding around one of the outdoor stands so I went to check it out. I bought 2 amethyst, 2 emerald, and 2 multicolored. I've been wearing some of them, but I think Kimbo and Marissa and Mom will be getting some when I come home. I think that was the best purchase I made in Rome, especially since the stones are real and I saw the SAME things in the airport for over 50 euros apiece.

On Sunday we got an early start because the weather was good. We bought pastries and ate them on the steps at the vatican. We kept joking to each other how everyone was staring at our pastries and getting jealous of them because they looked so good. Sure enough, a few people asked us where we had gotten the pastries.

When we were walking around, we saw a bunch of people running-- no, sprinting--- after some cars that had a bunch of security around them. Alas, the pope! A crowd of thousands of people gathered outside the vatican in the big square. At noon, the pope appeared in one of the windows marked by a red flag way up high in one of the buildings. He spoke in a bunch of different languages, including English. So that was kind of cool, seeing the pope.

We walked around some more and stumbled across a museum where we got in for free thanks to our art student passes. The man there thought we were French because Serena spoke to him in French. This happened a couple times when I was with Serena. "J'habite a Paris. Je suis une etudiante, j'etudiee le commerce." (I live in Paris. I am a student, I study business.)

We ate canella gelato (cinnamon!) which we both loved. It was my favorite of our entire time in Italy, but we never found the flavor again. We saw these 3 fountains which are famous for something and did a little photoshoot by them. But the funny part was, all day, Serena and I had attracted attention (as usual) but especially today because of our outfits. She has her wild curly hair and a bright green coat and I had my blonde hair and I was wearing bright blue knee stockings. And we were both wearing white sunglasses. So as we were doing our photoshoot, some italian man with an expensive looking camera started taking pictures of us, really obviously. I wonder if they'll end up in some Italian fashion magazine sometime...

We decided to wander back to our hostel and I was like, "I think it's this way because I can see the dome of the Vatican! I can't believe we're so close!" After a few minutes, I saw another dome. Oh, wait. There's domes ALL OVER Rome, and we had been walking in the wrong direction. It was okay, though, because we stumbled across the Pantheon. It was kind of unimpressive from the outside, but very nice on the inside.

On Monday, we did more walking, more shopping and went to the Trevi Fountain. On Tuesday, we went to St. Peter's Basilica, which is the Cathedral. We went inside, saw the Pieta statue, went underground and saw the tombs of the popes. In front of the tomb of Pope John Paul II there were a bunch of old ladies gazing at his grave and crying. Serena and I thought this was really funny and were giggling like crazy until a guard told us to be quiet. We also paid 5 euros to climb up to the top of the building, which took forever. There are a million stairs and it's very narrow and twisty and claustrophobic and it takes you up, up, up. At the top, you can see a view of the city, so we took a bunch of pictures.

On Tuesday evening, we went to the Colosseum and saw a different side from the touristy light of day. This is where a lot of young Italian kids go to drink, smoke pot, make out, etc... Of course there's also people like us, taking advantage of the emptiness. We met some Italian students there, a boy and a girl who were about our age. We talked to them for a while; I practiced my Italian and they practiced their English, and we made plans to meet up again on Thursday night.

On Wednesday, we went to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps late at night. I forget what we did during the day, it all kind of blends together. Oh, I know, we switched hostels. And went to some creepy dungeon place. Our next hostel was a lot more cramped and crowded, so it was harder to use the Internet and we didnt have as much privacy. the location was better though; it was a short walk from the Colosseum. We met some interesting people including a German boy who was in Rome to run a marathon. I saw a box of kinder chocolates on his bed and told him "My favorite thing about Germany is the Kinder." He looked at me strangely and I realized I'd said my favorite thing about germany is the children! I explained that I love the chocolate and I've never seen Kinder in the US, so he gave me the box of chocolate.

As we were walking around by our hostel, we passed some pretty church and some guy who works there invited us inside to look at "the oldest mosaic in Rome." Then he showed us these really old underground ruins of ancient Roman streets. It was cool, but too cold down there!

On Thursday we went into the Colossuem, which was cool. Oh, the only non-cool thing was that we didn't get a discount! It was 11 euros! And my camera ran out of batteries immediately after we got inside, so I had to ask the man at the exit if I could run out, buy batteries, and go back in. It was really hot that day, and later we met my friend Alex at the Trevi Fountain. I have 2 friends from UCR studying in Rome and we'd seen them a few times in Rome.

Serena and I decided to put our falling-into-the-fountain plan into motion! It was so hot outside, we knew we'd dry off quickly, and we both really wanted to do it. Alex kept warning us not to, that the polizia would come and give us a fine or even arrest us, but I suspected he was just being paranoid. I mean, I figured if we made it look like an accident, no one will give us a hard time. So Alex took the camera and started videotaping us and Serena and I sat on the edge. For a while we just talked and climbed around. Then we started splashing each other, and then I fell in, and she fell in after me. I screamed, which made everyone turn to look what was going on. We got out pretty quickly, but everyone started videotaping us and taking pictures. Some people were laughing, but we were laughing too. When we watched it later on camera, it looked SO fake! It looked really obvious we were hurling ourselves into the water, but oh well.

Anyway, that night we met up with our Italian friends at the Colosseum. They drove us to Campo di Fiori, which is a crowded place with lots of bars where all the young people go. We went to 2 bars and I got my pina coladas again! Serena and I decided we were too tired to go out dancing so they eventually dropped us off back at our hostel. We made plans to go out to lunch with the Italian people tomorrow, but we ended up ditching them because it was our last full day in Rome and we hadn't seen the Sistine Chapel yet.

So on Friday we went to the Vatican Museum, and ran into more people from AUP. This happened earlier too; it seems everyone from our school went to Rome for Spring Break. We walked through the museum, and sat in the Sistine Chapel for a while. Then we left, did more shopping, ate pizza, went to our favorite gelato place one more time, and went back to the hostel.

We didn't sleep much that night because we went outside to go to the Colosseum one last time and found a cat. We followed the cat into some casino and sat on some couches and pet it. The guy who worked there didn't mind and even offered us coffee. Too bad neither of us like coffee.

Anyway, we flew home the next morning at 9:30 am, got home exhausted and dirty, and that was that.

Italy! Part Two

The next morning, we drove on the bus from Venice to Florence, which took about 2 hours. We passed snow on the way there, but the weather in Florence was good. In Paris, before I left, I had bought a black cardigan with rabbit fur collar (15 euros!) and a blue leather jacket which I ended up wearing all over Italy because it was stylish and kept me warm. I'm wearing them in many of my pictures...

I loved Florence, it looked the way I imagined Rome would look. The shopping was pretty good, but it wasn't the only thing to do there, the way it was in Venice. When we got to Florence, we went to the hotel which was right in the center of the city, and immediately went to a leather demonstration. The guy was telling us how to tell real leather from fake leather (he said don't go by smell because that can be faked, and fake leather can feel just as soft as real leather. Check the underside of the leather to see if it's suede. Fake leather will just have fabric.) I made him inspect my jacket, purse, and boots afterward. Only the purse was synthetic, which I had expected because it was inexpensive. Two out of three aint bad...

The store was overpriced, so Emily and I went off on our own to shop and explore. There were lots of cheap stands everywhere around the city. I bought a leopard print belt that I was strangely drawn to. I don't even wear belts, but I'm going to start. I was also compelled to purchase this belt in Rome later; it was dark brown Dolce and Gabbana knockoff and had a D&G buckle. 10 euros each.

We also went on a walking tour through Florence. The city is very small and charming with narrow streets. We went past the outdoor replica of Michelangelo's David. Supposedly, Michelangelo and DaVinci hated each other and were very competitive with each other.

After the tour, we wandered more. Emily really wanted to get a gold ring, so we went to a bunch of jewelry stores. I wasn't even looking to buy any jewelry for myself but I ended up seeing this silver charm bracelet for 30 euros and bought it for myself. It looks like it has coins on it. I wore it all through the next week in the hostel because I didn't want to take it off because it might get stolen.

The Duomo, a big cathedral:

This is a bronze pig. Rub its nose and you'll return to Florence. So of course, as soon as the tourguide told us that, we dashed over and rubbed its nose.

Florence was a city of gelato! Oh, who am I kidding? EVERY city was a gelato city!

Eventually, we ate pizza and went back to the hotel. That night, we went to a discotheque called Space Electronic and I got a Pina Colada. The club was fun in a dorky sort of way. It was mostly all American tourists and people from our tour and not very crowded since it was a Wednesday night. We passed a sportsbar on the way home and went in for a minute. There were a bunch of drunk Italians singing in the streets because Rome had beaten Madrid in soccer.

The next day, Emily and I strategically planned our last day in Florence. Up at 7, hotel breakfast at 7:30, then we went to find the Galerie del Academia (aka the real Michelangelo's David). The museum was a bit hard to find but it was empty since we got there so early. We weren't allowed to take pictures but Emily secretly took a picture of me with the David that I posted earlier. We then went to the Uffizi museum, although along the way we were distracted by Italian Cosabella underwear.

At the Uffizi, there was a big crowd of people. It took about 30 minutes to get inside, but we stuck it out because I really wanted to see The Birth of Venus. I think that was my favorite piece of art I saw in Italy. We walked through the museum in about 45 minutes and then felt like we'd seen everything. Ooh, and Emily and I got in for free! Entrance was supposed to be 10 euros, but since we're art students in Paris, we got in for free. I had to argue with the guy a bit, but it worked.

After the Uffizi, we went to a few department stores. See, I had had a dream the night before that I bought a fake red leather wallet. I was looking at the stands and saw a fake red leather "Valentini" wallet for 30 euros. I passed on it, and went to a department store where I bought a beautiful red leather real Valentino wallet for only 25 euros! I think the dream was a warning not to buy the fake one. It was also fate, because my change pouch that I'd been using as a wallet fell apart the day earlier.

So that was Florence (aka Firenze). The only other dramatic thing that happened was that we thought we were supposed to meet the rest of the tour at 12pm to leave, but it turned out we were supposed to meet at 11:45. When we got to the hotel at 12, everyone was gone and we freaked out, grabbed our bags, and ran with them to the Duomo where we thought the bus was. Emily called our tour guide on the phone and we eventually found them, very out of breath.

So we drove from Florence back to Rome, which took a few hours with stops. Once we got to Rome, we walked around a bit around the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. It was raining lightly, but Emily and I stayed on our own after the tour left to have dinner (pizza, what else?) by the Trevi Fountain. The pizza place had pictures on the walls of the movie La Dolce Vita, including the famous scene where the woman splashes around in the Trevi Fountain in a black dress. It was then that I first formulated my plan to fall into the Trevi Fountain.


This plan was carried out a week later! I would post video, but I need to find my camera cord.

So the next day in Rome, it rained again. We went to the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain again and threw coins in. You're supposed to throw them in with your right hand over your left shoulder. The first coin means you will return to Italy. The second coin means you can make a wish. The third coin means you'll marry an Italian. So Emily and I sealed our fate, threw in 3 coins, and took video of us doing it.

We went back to the hotel and had one more surprise. Serena was there when we walked in! I had expected her to arrive the following day and so had she, but she apparantly booked her ticket for one day earlier than we had thought. It turns out everything was pushed up a day from what I had thought. I expected Emily to stay one more day, but she left the next morning. And Serena apparantly had an insane time trying to catch her flight. Her plane left at 7am, and she didn't realize that she was flying a day early until the night before. So she got stranded on the last metro, wandered through a dangerous area of Paris, hitchhiked to the train station, and slept outside until the station opened. Then came to our hotel, wandered around and waited for us to get back. She was exhauusted, and very on edge.

So the next day, Emily left really early in the morning and Serena and I checked into our hostel!

Italy! Part One

So I just got back from 2 weeks in Italy for spring break. I can't find my camera cord at the moment, which upsets me! I really hope it's either hiding in my luggage or Serena has it, because otherwise I'm going to have to go buy a new one. So I can't post any of my new pictures right now.

So like I said earlier, I slept over Emily's place on Saturday night, woke up super early, and then dragged our luggage down the metro stairs so we could be there right when it opened. I feel like I've been lugging my suitcase up and down so many flights of stairs these past 2 weeks! Can't everyone just have elevators? We bought orlyval passes and took the train to Paris' Orly airport, arriving in plenty of time for our 7:30 am flight. We booked it so early because it was the cheapest one. By the way, easyjet's slogan is "If you're late, we won't wait."

We arrived in Rome around 9:30 or 10 on Sunday morning, and the first thing I noticed was how bright and sunny it was. This ended up being the hottest day of the whole trip. Emily and I took a taxi to the hotel, which was 30 euros split between the 2 of us. When we first arrived there, we were kind of like, "Hey, this doesn't look like Rome! It's not like the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie!" But actually, Rome is a very big city; the third largest in Europe I've been told, so we were still in Rome, but more near the countryside. During the whole trip in fact, none of the places looked exactly as I had imagined them. To me, Rome feels more like Los Angeles than Paris does. Maybe it's all the trees and greenery.

Anyway, the hotel was relatively nice, and we dropped off our bags and immediately took off to find the metro. I was saying, "Once I see the Colosseum, I'll really feel like we're in Rome." So we took the metro there, and stopped to take some pictures with graffiti along the way.

The countryside:

I really enjoyed the Colosseum, especially sicne it was so hot and sunny outside. It was surprisingly green around the area in a way that strongly reminded me of the LA Zoo. Since it was Sunday, there were tons of tourists milling about. It was so crowded! But over the course of the next 2 weeks, I went back to Colosseum several times, and got a different impression...

Me buying postcards:

We ended up eating pizza for lunch at a nearby cafe. I ate a lot of pizza while I was in Italy, and a lot of gelato, but I did a lot of walking too.

So eventually, after wandering around the Colosseum and the nearby ruins for a while and eating lunch, we went back to the hotel to relax. We ate a pasta, salad, and chocolate dinner that night with the rest of the people on the tour. We were exhausted so we went to bed right after dinner.

The next morning we drove on a coach bus all the way from Rome to Venice, (or Roma to Venezia as they say in Italy). It took a long time, maybe 6 hours. We stopped a few times along the way for lunch and breaks. (I bought Italian Elle!) I looked out the window and saw lots of countryside. During the long drive, we met some of the other people on the tour. There was a big group of girls studying abroad in London who were on spring break as well. There were a lot of young couples, and some single people traveling alone. I was surprised that not everyone was American: there were people from Australia, Japan, South Africa, etc.

When we finally arrived in Venice in late afternoon, Emily and I were psyched to discover that our hotel was really nice! It was not in the center of Venice, but it was right next to the train station that drives you into Venice.

Me laughing in the nice hotel room:

We took the train into Venice that day around 6, and left the city at 11. We ate gelato, and just wandered around looking at stuff. There is so much touristy shopping there! I kept thinking as we walked around, Venice reminds me of Disneyland! Disneyland without the rides; the overpriced touristy shopping part that everyone peruses once the rides have closed down for the night.

We walked to the Rialto bridge in the center of Venice and then made our way to Saint Mark's Square (San Marco). The place with all the pigeons!
I bought a glass pen for 3 euros that evening from a little store and waited as the lady behind the counter took 5 minutes to painstakingly wrap it up, in bubble wrap, paper, stickers.... It reminded me of that scene in Love Actually where the guy is buying a gold necklace and the guy takes a million years to wrap it up because he adds potpourri, a ribbon, a bag, etc. Now I just need ink to use it with...

The next morning, Emily and I decided to forego breakfast at the hotel and get an early start on the day. Everyone else on the tour woke up at 9, had breakfast, and didn't get into the city until 10:30. But Emily and I woke up at 7, took the 7:30 train, and got there by 8. In retrospect, this was a very good decision because while it was merely cold in the morning, it became windy and rainy later in the day. Emily and I actually did everything we could have possibly done to enjoy the good weather in Venice without knowing it. She told me later that she was glad I insisted on taking so many pictures in the morning, because the weather got so bad later on.

We walked around through the shops, the narrow streets, and went into some church.

We met up with the rest of the tour at 10:30 to go to a glassblowing demonstration, which was pretty cool. We watched some guy take a big glass rod, put it in a fiery oven, and use some tools to mold it into a horse.

After the glassblowing demonstration, they led us into some expensive store where a bunch of people bought glass. Then we went to a lace making demonstration. Making lace by hand looks incredibly boring and time consuming. Emily and I realized later during our tour that all the demonstrations we went on were really more like commercials. Since we had been in the city a lot already, we knew that the store was way overpriced; some of the trinkets cost more than our entire tour! It put things in perspective: which would you rather have, a cup or a week in Italy? It seemed suspicious how in every city, the demonstrations came first, before everyone had had a chance to shop around. The stores probably pays the tour organizers to take all the tourists there...

By the time the demonstrations were over, the weather had gotten worse. I was afraid it was going to rain, so I decided to feed the pigeons immediately. I had watched other people buy bags of birdseed and had pigeons fly all around them, and land on them, eating out of their hands. Initially, I thought I wanted to do that too, but it was too terrifying.

As soon as I bought the little bag of birdseed, they all started advancing toward me like an army and swarmed around me! Emily refused to go anywhere near them, se she took pictures of me from a distance. The pigeons were aggressive and not scared at all! Some started flapping around my head. I started screaming and shrieking and ran for my life. They ran after me! It was funny because I was running toward Emily and she was running away from me because I was bringing the pigeons to her. I fed them, tossing the birdseed as far away from me as possible. Trust me, it may not look scary, but it was. Especially since there weren't many other people feeding the birds because of the weather, so it felt like they were ALL clustered around me. The people on the tour later were like, oh, was that you screaming so much?

The rest of the afternoon was bad weather, so none of the gondolas were running, unfortunately. We went back to the hotel early, ducking into shops along the way to stay out of the rain. I bought a cat mask from one of the stores for 10 euros; not the one above, a different one.

I eventually started walking really close to people with umbrellas, sort of following them to use their umbrellas. Two of the people noticed what I was doing and shared umbrellas with me. We made it back to the hotel, wet and miserable, but our hotel was so nice, it cheered us up. I took a bath and we watched Italian tv. We joked about how we should have just stayed in the hotel the entire time, and told everyone we went into the city. We could have bought souvenirs from the hotel gift shop, taken pictures of the paintings and said they came from a museum, and photoshopped ourselves into pictures of the city.

It was funny because Emily and I ran for the train we had to take to get to and from Venice every single time we had to use it, because we were so paranoid about missing it. And each time we ended up running onto the train and waiting there for 10 minutes or so for it to leave.

And the next day: Florence!

Ciao Bella!

I just got back to Paris a little while ago, but I'm still exhausted. I need to take a shower and a nap...

The First Week in Italy, in Pictures...

Descriptions later....

Italy- Rome and Venice so far...

I will post much more details later when I have time, but we arrived in Rome on Sunday on easyjet airlines. Emily and I ended up signing up for some cheap tour so that our hotels and transportation would be taken care of. We wanted to get into Rome early, our flight left at 7:30 am!!! We had to wake up at, like, 4:30 and get on the metro. I slept over at Emily's to save time on traveling. The flight only took 2 hours and we took a taxi to our hotel. Which was not in the center of Rome but in what felt like the Roman countryside. The metro was easy to find though and it was a short trip to the Colosseum. Today was Venice. I'm so glad we went into the city last night and got here earlier than everyone else this morning because in the afternoon it rained!!!!!!!!! So we couldnt go on a gondola. I was disappointed. I bought fun trinkets though. Tomorrow is Florence, which means Michelangelo's David. I've taken tons of pictures, which I'll post later.