EUROtrip Finale, Part 1

So, I am writing this on my train to Paris, which is currently delayed at least an hour (go figure). Jenna and I have just left Ventimiglia where we spent 3 nights. And of course, not everything went smoothly. Can’t say I’m not happy to be going home soon. Traveling is stressful. Anyways, so we decide to take a 3:00 pm train to Ventimiglia since we wanted to spend a few extra hours in Firenze before we left. We returned our phones and my internet key; I went to the school to use the internet and take care of some things before we left, and Jenna went to San Lorenzo market to buy a new purse (since hers just broke that morning). However, we didn’t have cell phones anymore….. AND we were splitting up. First sign of failure. We said we would meet at a certain place at a certain time, but when I got there (a couple minutes late) I couldn’t find her. This was after I ran all the way from Anna’s apartment to the Duomo. I then ran most of the way home because when I went home before to drop off all my stuff, I found Anna waiting for Jenna and I in the kitchen with a freshly homemade pizza. I felt so bad that I didn’t know and she had the table set and everything, that I ran all the way back to spend my last half hour in Florence with her. Sadly, she already ate, but we sat together and talked before we had to say our final goodbyes L. It was terrible. We hugged and kissed her goodbye, and in my franticness of leaving I couldn’t form words in Italian and then as we were pulling away in the taxi Jenna and I both started crying. I started laughing while crying because it was ridiculous how hysterical we were getting. So that was somewhat amusing, yet horribly sad. I really miss her. It sucks. Mia mamma italiana L

So after we pull ourselves together in the cab, and pay the ridiculous fare, we make our way with our 50 pound bags each (at least) and my extra one since I didn’t send anything home, to the ticket booth. We find that there is a train going through Pisa that leaves earlier than the one we were originally planning on taking, and MUCH cheaper. We quickly buy the tickets for it and rush to the train, and when I mean rush, I mean go as fast as we can while lugging all those bags. Needless to say, we JUST missed the train. Go figure. So, I run to the ticket line, cut the entire line, an exchange our tickets to buy the tickets we had originally planned on buying, that was leaving in 20 minutes. Oh, and did I mention they were 60 euro more? Yeah, not happy. But, it was either that or wait to get in around 1:00 am in Ventimiglia, so oh well.
On our train, we’re sitting in Harry Potter type cars where you can close the doors and have a whole compartment. Jenna and I sat with this cute old couple, and then this younger guy comes in. We weren’t sure what he was, but it soon became obvious that he was from Tunisia. We were not happy. He had a ton of friends on the train who were staring at us and we couldn’t understand anything they were saying. Anna had warned us that Tunisians were going to Ventimiglia because it was the last major town before France, and the French were not letting them into the country, even though they were trying. Also, he pulled out a cigarette in the car and was about to light up when I asked him in Italian if that is what he was doing. He offered me one, I said no, and then I said I don’t like, please don’t do that in here. We were astounded!!

Anyways, we finally got off the train and were greeted by the person we were staying with. She walked us back to where she lives and showed us our room. It was amazing. It was a double bed, with wifi, free coffee and breakfast, close to the ocean, and CHEAP! She asked us if we ate dinner, and then offered us some of what they were having. It was sticky rice with seaweed and turkey and some other things. It was so good! And so nice not to have Italian food for once. Her bed was comfortable and we passsseeeeddddd out.

The next day was Friday and Jenna and I walked around the town a bit and found a HUGE market. There was a food market and an items market. It was really nice, but we didn’t buy anything. Then, we went back to the house and she walked us to the old part of Ventimiglia. It was very nice, but then we had to rush back because Homer, the woman’s son, offered to take us to the next town over to hang with him and his friends. So, we walked over, talked a bit—apparently he used to live in New York and play near Union Square. Jenna and I both thought we had seen him before, but obviously we don’t know for sure. We stayed there for a bit, he skated and we “helped” him think of some lyrics in English for his friend’s song, and then took a bus back. Finding dinner that night was hard. We wanted to eat around 7:30, but apparently people don’t eat until around 9:00 pm there. So, we ate at a restaurant where we were the only ones in there, and as we left, the owner gave us each a rose. So nice J Later that night when we were trying to watch some How I Met Your Mother in bed, she kept on knocking on our door and coming in. At first it was nice because she offered to let us use their living room with an actual tv so we wouldn’t have to see the sexual ads on the side of the webpage, but then she came back and told us to watch this dvd of hers. We said okay, thanked her, and then resumed watching our show. She then came back again to check if we were watching it. It was incredible! Jenna and I think she was on something. Either way, we ended up watching a bit of it the next night, but it was still weird.

Saturday, we got up late, and then went to the market to get stuff for dinner, since the woman was going to teach us how to shop and cook (she was a chef and had owned a restaurant in DC) We bought anchovies (apparently their specialty in Ventimiglia is fried anchovies) zucchini, peas, some type of beans, a tomato, and a melon. Then we tried to find a beach to sit at and read, but it was too windy, so we found a park instead. We went back to the market, bought some stuff for lunch, went to the supermarket to each buy a beer (I got the one that I drank with my pizza in Naples), and then headed to the park. It TOO was crowded with people from Tunisia! It was insane. So, after a while we headed back to our room, read some more and watched some tv on our computers. Then, the woman taught us how to cook our dinner,.I tried friend anchovies for the first time—verdit: it was good (with the lemon) but the crunchiness and the fact I was eating it whole (with the bones) just freaked me out. So, I had to stop. The vegetables were really good though. We ended up having the melon a bit later for dessert while watching the movie she gave to us.

Sunday, everything was pretty much closed. Jenna and I actually wanted to do something, so we decided to go to Montecarlo since Anna had told us it was one of her favorite places and it was about a half hour train ride to get there. So, we made our way there and headed to the casino. It was GORGEOUS. There was a garden right before it with fountains and it was just a site. It was 10 euro to get into the gambling part of the Montecarlo, so we walked around the Paris casino for free. We got Anna a postcard (we promised we would write her :P) and then walked around the area a bit more. While we were deciding whether we wanted to gamble a bit or not, we walked around the rest of the area and saw the great view of the marina right by the casino. We even walked into the hotel right by the casino, which was also gorgeous. Of course, everything inside was BEYOND expensive. So, we went back to the casino to maybe get a drink, but they were about 19 euro each, so we decided to get cheaper gelato instead. Still expensive, but it was the money I would have spent on betting, so it all worked out.

After that, we walked along the boardwalk and spent some time on the beach. We then walked into another hotel where we found a GIANT chess set and played a couple matched. It reminded me of the chess set from Harry Potter, just smaller. It was awesome :D (I also won 3 times J). Then we found a place for dinner, got 4 cheese pizzas (with blue cheese and gorgonzola on it!) and headed back to Ventimiglia. Oh, and we missed that train by less than a minute too, so we had to wait half an hour for the next one. Not a tragedy, just annoying as hell.

Now we are on our way to Paris to spend 3 nights and get a second shot at seeing all the sights and the gardens of Versailles, since we failed epically last time. Hopefully, for my third time in Versailles I will be able to see the gardens in bloom finally!! :D

More later!

Guys, that tower is LEANING

So although I had been to Pisa at least a half dozen times before, I had never made it out of the train station or the airport. On the Sunday before Jenna and I left Florence, we decided to ACTUALLY go to Pisa and see the tower. So, we get there and first off have no idea where to go. We look at the sign and place where it says where you are, and the place where the tower is, are torn off, of course. We figure out that the missing spot is where we need to go, and head in that direction. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the Tower of Pisa. I expected it to be a bit bigger, or a bit more leaning I guess. There really wasn’t much of a field to take your picture in either. I had been thinking of the poses I wanted to do on the way there and I had a few in mind. I wanted to jump on it, kick it, punch it, hold it up on my back, and maybe a few others. I ended up pushing it down (had to), punching it, and kicking it. The ones of me holding it up and punching it came out the best.
After taking our pictures, we realized we were starving to the point of getting dizzy, and made our way to this cute little sandwich place that we found on a side street. We ate our sandwiches, walked around some more, and eventually found a nice gelato place with a huge line outside. We have come to the conclusion that whenever you see a line outside of a place, it usually means that it us good—and boy were we right. This place was REALLY good. I was in the mood for fruit, so I got passionfruit and lemon and Jenna got hazelnut (I think?) and some other flavor I cant remember. While we were eating, this guy came up to us, wished us a Happy Easter, and then proceeded to tie this string bracelet on my wrist while reciting something. He did the same to Jenna, and then asked us for some money. I promptly took off the string and handed it back to him saying I had no money. After he left, about THREE other people came by and tried to do the same thing/sell us something. It was ridiculous! Eventually we just got up and left because they wouldn’t leave us along. We then made our way back to Florence for dinner.

Just a nice short cute trip ☺