I'm back!!! And thank God. It feels so good to be back in Galway. I'm happy to not be living out of a duffel, not having to share a bed with anyone, and to be able to cook my own dinners. I know I shouldn't complain, Italy was great, I just hated being stranded.
Ok, so here's an abridged version of my extra long spring break trip:
BARCELONA: The weather was perfect the whole time we were there. We got there really late the first night, so just hung in and woke up early the next morning to explore the city a little. We walked along the main road, Las Ramblas, and went to this really cool fruit market. There were hundreds of different fruit stands, candy stands, nuts, and dried fruits. We bought a bunch of strawberries for really cheap for the beach. Right next to the fruit market was a.....DUNKIN DONUTS! I got a large iced coffee, for euro, but it was worth every penny. We finally made it to the beach, and it was so nice! We met up with our friend Tony, and got dinner at an outdoor cafe near the ocean. I got paella and chicken, a Spanish rice dish, it was so good. We went out for drinks and got lots and lots of "Special Sangria" and had a great night.
The next morning we woke up early to get to the beach, and spent the day there. We were joking because we were in this amazing city, with so much cool history and architecture, yet our only concern was getting to the beach and lying in the sun. Honestly, it was much more enjoyable than looking at buildings! We had to get up early to catch our flight to Italy the next morning, so we spent the night roaming around looking for churros, and finally found some.
FLORENCE: I was so happy to get to see my roommate, Stacy! We stayed at her apartment, and she took us out for a great time on our first night. We went out to dinner at a restaurant near her apartment, and got some great Italian food and wine. Apparently, at restaurants in Italy, if the waiter likes you, he'll refill your wine liter free of charge. I think ours really liked us, because he kept it flowing! We went to her usual bar after dinner, which was of course, an Irish pub. I ran into a bunch of Roger Williams kids, and it was great to see them all.
Stacy had to go to her classes, so Mary, Lindsey, and I spent most of the days just wandering around Florence. It was such a cool city, and there was so much to see. My favorite was the leather market, where they sell all sorts of leather jackets, purses, wallets, and other stuff. They also had tons of cool jewelry, and it was easy to bargain with the people. I got myself a purse, and a few bracelets. Just about every day we got a gelato (or two). There were so many different flavors, there was no way I could try them all. I think my favorite would have to be fragola (strawberry) and melon. We also had plenty of pizza, and pasta, and the Italian food definitely lived up to it's standards!
VENICE: We left Florence to head to Venice on Friday. At this point, we had heard about the volcano in Iceland but had no idea how much trouble it would cause us. We were supposed to fly out of Venice on Monday, and didn't even consider that the ash would hold off flights until then. The train ride was about three hours long, but as soon as we stepped out of the train station we realized it was well worth it. It was literally the coolest place I have ever seen. Instead of streets, there was just water. The only way to travel through the city was either on foot or by boat, there wasn't even bikes. We took a water taxi to our hostel and were greatest by two of the nicest Italian men I have ever met. They were so funny, and even upgraded us into a private room free of charge. We walked around and went out for dinner that night, and had some more amazing Italian food.
The next morning I unfortunately woke up to a message from Stacy letting me know that our flight had definitely been cancelled. Even though Venice was so beautiful, we could not fully enjoy it because we kept worrying about how we were going to get home to Ireland. We explored Venice more, and tried to decide what we were going to do. We didn't know how long we were going to be stuck for, and whether we should go back to Florence and stay with Stacy for free, or pay to stay in our hostel. After talking to a bunch of people we met who were also stranded, and calling the airport dozens of times, we realized that flights would not be going out until the end of the week. We decided to go back to Florence on Monday.
FLORENCE (again!): Even though we were upset that we were stranded, we still had a great extra week in Italy. Lindsey celebrated her 21t birthday, and we had a special dinner, cake, and went out for the night. We went to the leaning tower of Pisa, and took some cool pictures. At first, we didn't think we were going to be able to get a flight until Monday, but after checking online numerous times, we finally were able to book one for Friday out of Rome, so back on the train we got...
ROME: I'm really glad we ended up getting to go to Rome. Even though we were only there for less than a day, we managed to see a lot. We went on a bus tour, and it took us all over the city. We saw the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. It was cool to get to see the Vatican, but we couldn't go inside because admission was way to expensive and there was a three hour line. The Trevi Fountain was my favorite, it was so pretty! We had some of the best pizza I've ever had for lunch, and managed to see the main sights in a day. I wasn't sad to go though, because we flew home to Ireland that night! We were so happy once our plane took off, and excited to get home. I had a great time in Spain and Italy, but I definitely am an Irish girl for sure!
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