Europe Trip.... Part 2 (2009)

Barcelonetta

2009-06-14T04:44:00.002-06:00

Hey all,

So I am still in Barcelona and actually extended my time here an extra week. I was going to go to Portugual before I met up with Peggy but I really like it here and dont want to leave.

The other day my roomie and I made friends with these guys who have a boat. They told us they had seen dolphins and whales the other day so we went out with them at like 6am to try and see them too. We didnt get to see any though which was quite sad. However, since we had stayed up till 6 we got to see the sun rise which was very pretty. Also, just being on the boat was great for me. I really want to get a boat some day. The guys had a wake board so we tried that for a while. I never managed to get up but it did manage to make me really soar today.

Other than that not too much new stuff is going on. My spanish is getting quite a bit better. Still no where near being good.... but I understand what is going on for the most part. I still have trouble with speaking, but I have been having to practice quite a bit.

Miss everyone!

Amy

Barcelona

2009-06-05T15:06:00.002-06:00

Hola amigos!

So since my last post was pretty short I wanted to update a bit more about Barcelona. I am sharing a room with a french girl who is super cute... the bubbly type. There are then two brazillian guys who are in the house, they are both really nice and are amazing cooks. They are even teaching me a few things. I am becoming quite domesticated while living here.... haha, who would have thought. The other girl is american and a very chill sort of person. She trys to help me with my spanish quite a bit and is good with making plans of place to go out.

When we go to the beach its to the same spot each day and there are always a group of guys down there that play music.... drums and guitar mostly. Its very relaxing though, sitting there and reading or practicing spanish with one of the regular guys that are down there.

Other than that I havent been doing a whole lot. Its been fairly hot where walking around the city gets annoying kinda quickly when I know I could be lying at the beach. Although, today was cloudy and a bit rainy so I did spend most of the afternoon exploring the city. I was in Barcelona a few years ago though so I feel like I have seen all of the main museums and sites of the city already. However, I would like to go to the Gaudi park... Parc Guelle (sp) one day. Also, there are supposed to be some prettier beaches just outside of barcelona that I was told I should check out.

For anyone that was waiting for a postcard, I have bought them, wrote on the back, and addresed them, I even bought stamps in amsterdam. ALthough, I still havent sent them.... yea I suck. I know where the post office is here though so I will go on Monday and mail them (maybe).

Ok, well I like hearing from everyone too.... I feel so cut off from people. I am having lots of fun traveling but I still want to know how everyone is doing. So feel free to send me a message or email letting me know what is up with you!

Amy

Germany and Spain

2009-06-03T06:25:00.002-06:00

So I have been kinda slacking on updating this lately... what can i say Ive been keeping pretty busy.

After dresden I went to hannover where I met up with mandy and the amazing german friends!! I spent two weeks with them in Germany, Amsterdam and Ireland. It was really nice being in germany and having people there to help us order and show us where to go. And the trip in ireland with mandy was lots of fun. we rented a car and drove clear across the country in three and a half hours and half a tank of gas.

Now i am in barcelona renting a room in a house just ten minutes from the beach. There are four other people that live here with me and at times it reminds me of the mtv show real world. Its great though. I go to the beach pretty much every day. I have been practicing my spanish with guys i met on the beach and then every night in barcelona is saturday night so i go out with my house mates and explore the city by night! Overall this trip is amazing and i am in love with barcelona. I really think i may just move here....

Well im off to the beach!

Dresden, Germany

2009-05-14T13:08:00.002-06:00

I have been in Dresden Germany the last couple of days. I hadnt really planned on coming to Dresden at the begining of the trip but it was between Prague and Hannover so I figured why not. Its a medium sized city I would say, overall pretty good though.

I went to this national park, at least i think it was... could have just been a forest marked on a map, and saw this giant rock fortress thing. It took me like an hour train ride to get there and I didnt really know which stop it was so I just got off the train when a bunch of people with back packs and walking sticks got off. Haha, turned out to be the right stop so that was good. Then I just walked between these little towns along the river, it was really pretty. Yesterday I rented a bike and rode a little out of Dresden to see some castles. When I went to rent the bike though the guy told me to test it out before I took it and I almost crashed into a tree when I very first got on, graceful I know. I hadnt rode a bike in a while and it took me a minute to remember how to balance. No worries though, I made it through the whole day with out hitting a single thing.

Tomorrow I am going to Hannover to meet up with Mandy and the Germans I know. The girl at my hostel showed me this website that is like organized hitchhiking. So I am splitting gas money with two other girls and riding with them tomorrow morning. Im kind of excited because I think most of the way there is on the autobahn (sp?) and I havent rode on that before. I hope the girl driving likes to go fast and if she had a cool car that would be nice too. :)

Italy and Prague

2009-05-07T15:22:00.003-06:00

The last couple weeks have been pretty fun. I just ended up leaving Italy yesterday.... I miss it already!! I went to Rome again which was ok.... it really just made me miss traveling with Jane and Peggy though, we had such crazy times there. Then up to Florence for a few days. I actually liked Florence a fair bit, but the city didnt seem to have too much going on. After that though we went down to Atrani in the Amalfi coast. This city was beautiful!! Plus we ended up making friends with the two Luigis who ran a bar restaurant. They were really great guys and we made multiple other friends while hanging out there, including the Aussi girls who became our travel mates for a few days.

While hanging out at Luigis us and the Aussis met a couple living in London and vacationing in Italy for like 4 months. They rented this really cute little villa and had us all over for a dinner party the next night. It was amazing, one of the best meals from my trip. It was a very nice quaint little night. The following night we had our first going away party at the bar. This included liters of drinks, Aussi Amy working behind the bar and making me an Acid Amy drink, and a few other shennanigans. After a few days hiking and beach going we went up to Naples.

From there we took a day trip to Pompeii. Ancient Pompeii is really neat to see, and if there werent heaps of tour groups it would be a great place to wander around for a few days. Naples was ok... not one of my favorites though. Although, Luca, from Houston, did come meet up with me here and it was nice for him to show me around for the night.

Yesterday I got into Prague. So far I love it, its such a beautiful city. Although, czech is a ridiculous language to try and speak. I took a walking tour today and learned all about the history of Prague, which I think has made me appretiate the city more. Most of its buildings werent destroyed during WWII so the old buildings are neat to see. Plus it has great views that get even better at night. I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Milano and Torino, Italy

2009-04-19T06:14:00.003-06:00

So I have been in Italy a little less than a week now. I spent the first few days in Milan, which turned out to be pretty nice. I didnt really have high expectations for Milan but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. On my first afternoon there I was just wandering around looking for some place to grab a snack and stumbled into the city center. The Duomo church is the main site in this square and it is ridiculous. I think I read it is the 3rd largest church in the world, but it was more than that.... all of the details of it were so intricate and really just remarkable. I went inside which was very nice as well, but the outside of this church was just more eye catching than I think maybe any building Ive sen before (I cant upload pics now, but I will try to put one up soon). I ended up making a friend in Milan, Luca. I went out with him and some of his friends a couple of nights. One neat thing was the happy hours in northern Italy, you buy a drink but then you get a bufffet style meal too. But really good Italian food buffet. And of course I had to try some pizza. Some other sites I saw were a castel in Milan and the science museum which has some of Leonardo di Vincis things. Other than that it was a good city to just wander around in, window shop, and enjoy the warm weather in some pretty parks.

Friday I ended up taking a train to Torino, which is where the 2006 (I think) winter olympics were held. Today the weather is pretty crappy so I havent been doing much, but yesterday I did all the site seeing stuff. I went to the Royal Palace of Venaria in the morning, which the palace itself was ok... but nothing too exciting (I guess once you get used to the idea of there being palaces and castels all over the place). The gardens there were beautiful though and they looked to the Alps. Ive decided I really like mountains now. I think someday I will have to live between mountains and an ocean. In the afternoon we went and saw the sights of Torino, a castle here, a palace there, followed by a giant church over looking the city and cute little streets filled with delicious food and lots of shopping. In the evening I met some more Italians and we went to dinner and then to a bar. I really need to learn the language better although I am able to pick up a few sentences here and there most of the time I need someone to translate for me. So when I get back in the US I want to learn Italian a little better and maybe actually try to learn to cook. The food here is so great... it really puts my mac n cheese to shame. I think its making me grow up some as far as my appetitie is concerned.

Well tomorrow I am getting up early and taking a train down to Rome. So I would like to send some postcards to you guys back home but I dont know any addresses. If you would like one, leave your address on here or email me it.

Amy

Brussels

2009-04-13T14:35:00.002-06:00

So I have been in Brussels over Easter weekend. The city is pretty touristy but not filled with lots of big sights to see. Its more like a relaxing city. I have spent time wandering through the streets and stopping in pubs with friends to try the belgium beers. Also, the chocolate is pretty good too...

I went out with some locals one night and we went to this chill little bar. It was very nice, just relaxing and then all of a sudden everyone starts pounding on the tables and the next thing I know the entire bar is climbing ontop of their tables and chairs dancing/ singing along with the music. This went on for the rest of the night until we left.

The next day I made a friend with another american from the hostel. He was pretty cool and it was nice to have someone to wander around and do the tourist thing with. The only downside of being here is since it was Easter weekend, and monday is a holiday day too, alot of things have been closed.

I am flying to Milan tomorrow and will then be in Italy for about the next 2-3 weeks. I will try to post again in a couple of days!!

Amy

Fuck It, Im going to Europe!!

2009-04-12T16:58:00.003-06:00

Hey all,

So I will try to update this somewhat regularly with what all is going on. Quick overview of what has happened already.... I spent a few days in Paris Which was really amazing, I would love to go back. And I may try to buy my ticket back home out of Paris so I have an excuse to see it again.

Well Im getting kicked out so more later

Amy

End of the trip

2007-07-14T11:34:00.000-06:00

Only a couple of more days and then my Europe adventure will be officially over. This past week has sort of seemed more like a vacation since we have been in one place the whole time. Madrid has been fun, but I deffinitley would have to say Barcelona was my favorite European city.

This past week has just been relaxing and going out dancing. We are going to this night club called el capital tonight it is supposed to be like 7 floors of dancing. Such fun! Well this will probably be my last post while in Europe, I never really put many stories or pictures on here so if you want to hear more about our trip you will just have to ask me when I get back. :)

Greece and Spain

2007-07-08T16:23:00.000-06:00

So I haven't updated in a bit but we've just been traveling all over I hadn´t got much of a chance. After rome we went to Athens for a night and then to Mykonos, one of the greek islands, for a weekend. It was really nice we would go out at night and spend the days at the pool or on the beach.

After Mykonos we went to Barcelona.... which I absolutely loved!!! It was a pretty city had a fair amount of things to see along with a beach and great night life. I had a great time there and so far has been my favorite city I've visited. After a few days in Barcelona we went up to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. That was just insane, we got in Pamplona around 10 or 11 at night (just in time to see fireworks) then found somewhere to store our luggage for the night since we didn't have anywhere to stay and everything was full. We then spent the night in the crazy streets of papmlona with thousands of other people drinking dancing and jsut being insane. Like it was a popular thing to throw your glass bottles all over the streets to break. That was pretty annoying and you couldn't really walk anywhere without getting beer or wine sprayed on you. I had fun though don't get me wrong.... it was just complete insanity. The bulls ran at 8am that morning and we actually got an amazing spot to watch. I didn't end up running, I decided that if i did i wouldn't want to be anywhere near the bulls so then i would just be running in a giant group of people and not see anything. We takled about watching the first night then running with them the next morning. (running of the bulls is a week long thing, every day at 8am). However, we ended up leaving that next morning as we all were dead tired and just had had enough of a solid night of partying and staying up.

Now we are in Madrid, we got in last night and are here for a week until we fly back home. So far Madrid has been pretty relaxing, it seems like it will be a good city to spend the last week in.

End of Rome

2007-06-25T13:19:00.001-06:00

Hey all!

So we left rome last night and took a night train down to Sicily. So far Sicily is really really hot. But our hostel here is really nice so that was pretty good.

While I was in Rome I ended up meeting up with my friend Will from U of I. We all ended up just getting dinner and then hanging out on the Spanish steps. I think those might have been my favorite thing in Rome. They weren't the most breath taking or interesting, however they were the most fun area to go and visit. Another thing which I really liked was the Trevi Fountain. I'd put up pictures, but I don't have my wire to connect my camera with me now... sorry.

The last night in Rome we went on this bar crawl sorta thing. It was with a bunch of other college aged tourists, but it was kinda nice since none of us speak Italian well. We went to this one club at the end of the night which was a great time. Lots of dancing and I made friends with a couple of Roman guys, so I still got to hang out with the locals. And peggy and Jane met some Ukranian guys which was pretty funny.

That next morning we were supposed to check out of our hostel by 10am and since we all got home a wee bit tipsy at 4 or 5 am we forgot to set alarms and were rushed out of the hostel without time to really get ready at all. We then just spent our last day in Rome hanging out in this park... catching up on some sleep and then just relaxing a bit. We then took a 12 hour night train down to Sicily. However, the last stretch of it something was wrong.... we don't know what, as we couldn't understand what people were saying.... and ended up getting delayed for about 2 hours on the hot hot train. We are in Sicily for 2 nights now and then we head to Athens. Tomorrow is the half way mark of our trip, which is kinda exciting. We have been typically doing so much during the days and evenings it's hard to believe it has only been 3 weeks. I feel like i've been here for months already. Great times though.

If you read this leave me a comment about what you have been up to lately as I haven't been keeping in touch with everyone!

Roma

2007-06-23T08:47:00.000-06:00

We have been in Rome for the last couple of days. I feel like there is so much to see here, everywhere you turn is some fancy old building or church. Although Rome has some great things to see like the Collosium and Vatican city I don't really like it all that much. It's dirty and smells like a toilet everywhere. We are leaving for Sicily tomorrow and then to Greece. Should be fun!

pictures

2007-06-20T13:21:00.001-06:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/amharpy

italy

2007-06-20T13:08:00.000-06:00

Hey all, so we are in cinque terre now. It has been a very relaxing couple of days. The hiking here is beautiful, and there are beaches.... well sorta, they are kinda rocky so its, more so people laying on rocks instead of sand but it's very pretty and a nice little break from museums and monuments. I am uploading pictures now from the trip so far, but they are taking really long to upload so I am only putting up a few. Peggy put up pictures on her facebook though, so if you want to see them her name is Peggy Spinato she is one of my friends on facebook. Tomorrow we leave for Rome, which should be lots of fun and then down to Sicily for a couple of days. Fun times, oh and I randomly ran into my friend Will from U of I here. We saw each other on this little ferry boat at these beach towns.... talk about random meetings.

I'll add some pictures now.

Italy

2007-06-17T08:50:00.000-06:00

I'm in Italy now! Venice was pretty cool to see and the beaches are always fun.

Since I haven't updated this much at all, here is the link to Jane's blog. I think her's is up to date. Otherwise I will do this eventually just not now. :)

http://www.xanga.com/janehuang

London and Germany update

2007-06-14T13:33:00.000-06:00

First, all of the options in here are in german so I'm hoping I actually get this posted.

Ok, so in London we did as much stuff as we could. All of the museums there are free so we went to a lot of those, the London museum (i think thats what its called) was amazing. We saw the rosetta stone and tons and tons of other things from all parts of the world. England has been taking other countries things for a long time aparently. After the museums we went and saw the major sites around london, like Big ben, the london and tower bridges, buckingham palace and quite a few other places. There are a couple different castles and palaces throughout the city with really pretty gardens and parks also. We didn' really go out much cause we were all so exhausted by the end of the day. Overall a very good time!!

Next Jane and I went to Berlin. There we saw a part of the berlin wall and things associated with that. We were only there for one full day though so we didn't do a whole lot. Berlin was ok, but not my favorite city at all.

Now we are in Munich. We have been here 3 days now. It's been amazing!!!! The first day we got in we were pretty tired so we just went to the munich museum then came back to the hostel and crashed for a while. Our hostel here is really awesome! They have a bar downstairs and lots of free tours and things like that. We took a wakling tour of the city and learned a lot about the city. Like all of the buildings in it look really really old but they were almost all actually destroyed in the ww2 and just rebuilt to look old. Also this city is all about drinking beer, all of the time. They have special breakfast lunch and dinner beer. I couldn't handle the breakfest drinking but tried some for lunch and dinner. We went to this beer hall that was huge, it seats 5000 people. And everytime we went in the place was packed. Also they serve the beer a liter at a time.... thats a lot. The city itself has been pretty amazing and the people are really nice and most of them know english. Today we went and saw the castle that the disney world castle is modeled after. It was really breathtaking. The inside actually has fairy tale sort of stories painted on all the walls, so it's pretty easy to see why disney copied it. Then when we got back to Munich we went to this restaurant that had traditional german dancers performing. It wasn't like people that worked at the restaurant though they just came there for dinner and to entertain some work friends so the dressed up and kept doing dances. It was pretty neat to see, and we were sitting right next to them so they kept coming over and trying to get us to join in with them.

Thats about it for now. We are taking a train tonight to Italy so our german part of the adventure is done. Italy should be really pretty to see though, I'm excited!!

Ireland and London

2007-06-08T08:55:00.000-06:00

We got into London this afternoon, it has been pretty fun so far.

Our last day in Ireland we walked around the city a whole lot and saw quite a few different things, some of which were planned and some just stumbling upon. We went to a couple different museums which were pretty interesting. Throughout the city though there are some really pretty gardens so we would stop to rest for a bit in them. We walked to close to the edge of Dublin and had a pretty view of the countryside. There aren't very many people with red irish looking hair in Dublin though which sorta disappointed me. :( Oh, and we met a leprechaun!! It was this little old lady who couldn't of been more than 4 and a half feet tall who came up and helped give us directions and then talked to us for a minute. She totally reminded me of a leprechaun though.

We got into London a bit ago, so far I like it alot. I'll update more about it later though.

Bye!!

Dublin

2007-06-06T13:33:00.000-06:00

We made it to Europe!!! Today we got into Dublin. None of us got a lot of sleep on the plane so it was a long day, but we still got to see some of the sites. We saw the Dublin castle.... which was ok, not awesome or anything but kinda cool to see. Then we went to see how Guiness is made. It was a 7 story tour where on the top level you got a glass of beer. It was a really cool place, I just don't actually like the taste of Guiness all that much so the beer at the end I barely drank. Very fun tour though.

Well, I think we are going to head out soon. I'll try and put pictures on here later.

I'm going to Europe

2007-05-25T15:29:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of the girls going, me, peggy and jane. Peggy's brother is coming too but I don't have a picture of him yet.

Well I still have about a week and a half before I actually leave but I wanted to get this set up so I can keep everyone updated on our European adventures. I'll try to post often, but no promises.