So let's back track a bit. The last post I did was over Thanksgiving break where I was in Barcelona, which by the is an amazing place. We visited tons of works by Gaudi including Park Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo (my personal fave) and the ever so glorious, awe-inspiring Sagrada Familia. We also enjoyed tapas and many run-ins with the bubbly words of the Catalan language including with a small sign allllllll the way at the bottom of a hill to explain that a particular fountain was not in service. (Catalan honestly sounds like people talking underwater, which actually suits the architecture and nature of the place amazingly). All-in-all it was great fun. I really miss the place and hope to go back to Barcelona and maybe see the rest of Spain someday. As for now however...
WINTER BREAK. (Ya, super late too but I gotta start somewhere don't I?)
So this year instead of doing the usual business of going home, it was decided that I should travel Europe instead for the whole of winter break. Intense. As you can imagine, I've never planned a month long trip before, and I've never been in charge of funding the whole thing either. Thank God for grandparents though (shout out to Grandma, and Lola & Pop!) This year, since I was travelling in a group, two of my friends and I started planning out, booking flights and accommodations etc from at least 2 months in advance. It was at times... intense. But it was sorted so the final schedule of events went a little something like this:
DEC 16 Break officially starts
DEC 19 Rome - Nice
Dec 21 Nice - Paris
Dec 26 Paris - London
Dec 30 London - Portsmouth
Jan 1 London - Amsterdam
Jan 2 Amsterdam - Prague
Jan 5 Prague - Vienna
Jan 8 Vienna - Zurich (with day trip to Lucerne)
Jan 12 Zurich - Rome
Cool? Cool. Now I'm just going to briefly describe each place otherwise this post will take FOREVER. And it's already taken me forever just to put this up *sigh*.
Nice
No, not nice, Nice as in that coastal city of France that's just a $50 flight away from Rome. That place. Here we spent an hour and a half on the bus to the hostel, not because we had far to go but really due to the fact we missed our stop. We ate dinner by ourselves at restaurants since we could never seem to eat when the natives did, we visited graveyards and a random church (ah, Tuesday! The only day of the week when everything is closed... except graveyards of course, and the only full day that we are actually there), we went to the coast and watched an absolutely amazing sunset, (picked up some rocks there too), roamed the Christmas market treating ourselves to things such as a view of some Olympic skaters performing and cotton candy, and finally we visited a museum, Palais Massena (the morning before leaving of course) which had some pretty cool paintings and a pretty neat tiger rug.
After that, we took a train to Paris.
Main quote for this city: "Everything here is sooo Nice."
Paris
Ahh, French. The language I understand less and less every time I hear it. Seriously, I just can't understand it and I can't speak a word of it, which was something that my french-speaking friends all forgot any time me speaking French was required. All was well however. We visited Museum D'Orsay (where there was an entire exhibit on the time period of Oscar Wilde -- so obsessed with him), the Louvre where I got a pic with Mona (just to let you know, 4 hours is not enough time to even get through one wing of it... O and it's also free to students on Fridays at 6). We went to Champs-Elysees (to be honest, I'm not sure what that is since anything French sounding just goes over my head), Paris Opera House, Eiffel tower of course, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coure where I met up with my friend from the Olympic Youth camp I went to in '08 (miss you Anja!), and Notre Dame where we celebrated Christmas Vigil. Those were some of the main spots we went to. We also celebrated Christmas in Paris, which was also my friend's Bday. It was really bittersweet, first time in 2 decades that I celebrated Christmas without my family. At least I had close friends with me.
Main Quote for this trip: "Kate, you forget, I don't speak French!"
Flight to London-town!
London
Probably no one was more relieved than I to be in such a glorious place. Finally, a language that I UNDERSTAND. And they can understand me too! *Cries a little in happiness.* You never realize how much you miss something until its gone. I never realized how much I miss overhearing strangers and understanding them completely. Ugh, glorious. Anyway, back to the trip. This was my first time ever setting foot in Britain, my country's motherland. It was quite fascinating. We visited Westminister Abbey (the fan vaulting in there is amazing!), took pics with Big Ben (who's now leaning), went to the V&A Museum, Shakespeare's Globe, "The Helmet" (City Hall), John Soane Museum, and Buckingham Palace. I even had tea at tea time at St. Martin in the fields. We also went to Trafalgar Square where there was an Official Olympic Countdown clock preparing for the Olympic games. Amazing. (Also, I once again wish my fellow OYC people good luck in their training!) We went to Kensington Palace which was transformed into an enchanted castle dedicated to the princesses that lived there. We also saw the play 39 Steps which was just hilarious. So many new quotes. All-in-all, a fantastic place to be.
Main Quotes: "I see why you're an orphan!"
"It was supposed to be a cast of four!"
Next, a hop, skip and bus ride away to Portsmouth!
Portsmouth
But wait... It's 2am. Enjoy for now. Part 2 coming soon!
(Sorry for the abruptness, I'm getting kicked out..)
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