Under the Tuscan Sun and back to family :)

03/21/2012
I am going to start writing on my note application everyday and uploading the entries to my blog weekly. This will allow me to have a more accurate account of our daily activities and not have to write in my journal as much :) I want to save my journal for the more personal accounts of my journey.

We are on the train currently waiting to leave for Siena. We are a bit behind schedule but that's ok, who's keeping track anyways! I have researched the hell out of Siena and the surrounding area in search of hotsprings, FREE hotsprings to be exact! I found numerous locations. So, we will spend today, Thursday and Friday in Siena and the national park just south of Siena basking in the sun and enjoying the wonderful hotsprings of Tuscany! It will be quite relaxing I'm sure. We don't have a place to stay yet but I sent a bunch if CS requests out and hopefully someone responds or to a hostel it is! I'm ready to do some more CS. We stayed in 2 different hostels and with a host in Rome. That was enough hostel time for me. I enjoy CS because of the types of people we meet. Although, we have met some fantastic people in the hostels we have stayed in. Danielle and I decided that the saying "bent out of shape" comes from somebody who probably dropped their water bottle numerous times in a day and bent the bottle out of shape. Sort of like what Danielle did today! Lol! I think she dropped the bottle 6 or 7 times already and she's only been holding it for 2 hours!

Dinner was great last night. There were 6 of us at a man's house named Alex. He is friends with our hosts. Nice guy! We had 2 bottles of wine that Danielle and Jenny went and picked out at a wine shop. They tried several kinds and once they picked the one they wanted, the associate transferd the wine into a bottle fresh from the barrel! How cool is that! We had a pasta dish with a delicious white sauce that included eggs in the ingredients. Very interesting recipe I do have to say. I didn't write it down, though I wished I had. I have so many recipes at this point. I'll have a new dish for each night of the week for a good 2 months with all the recipes I have written down and learned how to cook! We had nutella pie for dessert! I love that Italians love nutella! Danielle and I were wondering if this is where nutella was created because of the love they have for it here. I don't mind either way though lol.

Well we are on our way now...the train is moving. It will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes, not bad at all. I can't wait to enjoy the hot springs!! We want this to be our trial run to determine how difficult it is to get to the hot springs without a vehicle. I'll update on our conclusion.

I'm going to take a nap now. I only had 3 hours of sleep last night and I'm sure we will have a long day today.

Well, Siena is wonderful! We love it here :) its a much smaller city than Florence and almost reminds me of Granada. When we got off the bus we met a Mexican girl and 2 women from the US. We were all looking for the center so we walked and talked searching for the center and/or the main plaza. We eventually found it and said our farewells to our walking partners. As we stood there a man approached Danielle and I and showed us his phone with our picture on it. He asked us if that was us?! We just looked at each other and weren't sure what to say to him. It was super strange! All I thought was, why does this man have our picture on his phone. He quickly stated, you sent me a request this morning for CS. I was shocked! Lol! We figured we would stay in a hostel since we didn't really plan accordingly to stay with a host! I knew exactly who he was once he said he was from CS. He said he had just responded to my request and said we could come, when he looked up and saw us standing in the plaza!! How random?! We had just gotten off the bus walked to the center and in a crowd of over 200-300 people we just happened to be standing right next to him as he looked at the request! What luck!? So, he gave us directions to his place and we were on our way to explore Siena. The main plaza, Plaza Campo is very cool. It's a crescent shape and has many cafés and shops along the inside. Danielle and I sat and had coffee and a quick snack. We decided to get on the bus before nightfall. As we got on the bus, the woman in front of Danielle didn't move in on time and Danielle couldn't get on! The doors closed and I said very loudly not to move so we didn't have another incident like back in Bordeaux! Lol! I got off at the next stop and started walking very quickly back towards Danielle. It was too funny! What a day! Well, we are here with our host now, about to go to dinner. I'll update tomorrow night on how the hot springs turned out :)
Miss you all! Xoxo

03/23/12
Well, we had a late start yesterday and decided not to head out ti the hot springs but rather enjoy Siena. I'm glad we did too, we had an amazing time walking around the city and seeing the hills of Tuscany in the distance. We had lunch in a park near the center and then enjoyed some wine and cheese at the top of a hill overlooking Florence and miles of hills in the back round. It was amazing. We stayed for the sunset and I was able to capture some incredible moments on my camera. So, we have decided we will just cone back another time and dedicate more than 1 day to the hot springs.
Last night our host taught us how to plat a new card came, similar to euchre. Was had a good time. I had a bit too much wine and passed out during the movie we watched, No Strings Attched.

We are on the train, waiting to depart and head back to Florence. I am tired today. I want to take a nap when we return back to our CS house. I'm sure we will be going out since its Friday :)

Well, I m going to take advantage of being on the train and catch some zzz's while I can. It disappoints Danielle that I fall asleep every time we are traveling because she says I miss so much. I just have the hardest time staying awake when I'm traveling. If I absolutely have to stay awake I will but otherwise I'm out within 10-20 minutes after boarding lol. So....here I go. Write more later. Miss you all! Xoxo

03/27/2012
We leave to Bologna tonight. We fly to Bordeaux tomorrow. We are sitting in the Santa Maria Piazza its the plaza by the train station in Florence. It's a very nice evening tonight, perfect weather! The last few days have been wonderful. We relaxed and took advantage of the nice weather by taking walks and going out at night for drinks with everyone. Last night Danielle, Giuseppe and I went for sone beers and eventually met up with some Vincenzo and all went for some more drinks. I rolled my ankle last night, I figured it would happen at some point in the trip since we do so much walking and my ankles are so weak! I walked it off though and today its not so bad. I'm excited to go to Bordeaux and see Louis, Charlotte and the baby! I am looking forward to having wine, some cigarettes, cheese and sausage with Charlotte and Danielle while we talk about our travels and hear about the last few months of what they have been up to! I am also looking forward to getting new clothes and packing up my winter clothes!! Its a 2 hour plane ride to Bordeaux, its going to be quicker getting there than riding by train to Rome from Florence (that takes 3 hours).

I cooked sloppy joes for everyone for lunch the other night, that was cool! They enjoyed it. I made it from scratch for the first time, it came out very well. I am impressed with how well I have been cooking! I never realized how well I could cook until this trip. I made basic meals before, I have now learned to make some more complex meals. It's a good feeling. I am happy. I have been happy for some time now. I think this trip is allowing me to slowly learn so much about myself. It's funny cause everyone says, you take a gap year to travel and "find yourself" but that's exactly what happens! I can't explain what that means or how it happens, it just sorta does? I have gone through points in this trip where I thought traveling alone would have been better but I am very happy (now that we are several months into the trip) that Danielle and I are doing this together. There are too many occurrences to remember and I am truly pleased to have her to laugh with.

Well, I can't really think of much else to write for today. I am going to start my non stop questioning of wether or not she will play some card games with me. Lol. It usually takes about 3-5 times before she gives in and says yes! So, farewell for today! Miss you all! Xoxo

03/29/2012
Well we made it to Bordeaux safe and sound. No issues on Ryanair this time. Lol. We had a bit of a mission getting to Louis and Charlottes place. The trams stopped running while we were on it, not sure why, so we had to start walking. It's ok, it was really nice out!! Charlotte, Danielle and I sat and drank wine, ate cheese and spoke for hours! It was really nice! I enjoy times like this. It makes me miss not being able to live closer.

Today we went out into the center, just Louis, baby Louis, Danielle and I. It was nice. We walked around, had lunch at a great little spot off the main shopping strip and then we went food shopping. I'm cooking dinner a few nights this week. I'm excited to show them what I have learned in the last 2 months! Tonight I'm making a typical sausage and vegetable dinner. It's all mixed with olive oil (i add some wine and water for extra flacos) and you bake it. It's so yummy and simple to make! I'm making sloppy joes for lunch tomorrow! Charlotte has never had them! We r staying in tonight and relaxing, as a family. It's really nice.
Miss you all! I need to finish cooking and enjoy this glass of wine ;)

Pictures of our week in Bordeaux!

Florence...Round 2

So, we booked our flights to head back to Bordeaux. We are back in Florence! We love it here! We are taking this week to visit some of Tuscany. We are leaving very early tomorrow morning and heading to Siena. It's a smaller city south of here in the hills of Tuscany. There are many things to see and do but what has attracted us to this wonderful piece of land situated in central Italy are natural thermal springs. There are many of them in the hills of Italy. We have been trying to see hot springs since we were in Spain but haven't been able to find a way to get to any! I'm very excited! The pictures look amazing! But seeing them in person and swimming in them will probably be one of my favorite things ill do this year! We are going to dinner at a man's house named Alex. He is friends with our hosts. Neat guy!

So, our plan is to stay in Siena for a few days. Come back to Florence for the weekend. Go to Pisa on Monday (for the day). And head to Bologna on Tuesday to spend the day there since we fly out Wednesday. That's the plan. I'll write next week and update if that's actually what happens. Lol. I have learned that planning doesn't seem to work out very well. We have just kind of adapted to "living in the moment" and seeing what each day brings! I like it this way. We get to see what we want and even more! Some weeks are more planned out than others and sometimes those plans actually work out! Other weeks we just go day by day and enjoy wherever we are and the company we have! Well, that's enough for now. I need to get ready for that dinner :)

**To revisit my past blog and explain what happened in Morocco trying to get through customs**

We were in line with 30 mins left before the ferry took off to Spain. There were many people in the line to get through. We were at the end of the line. Everyone got through. When we walked up to the stand, happy to leave and excited to embark on a new journey in a new country, the computers crashed! They couldn't process us! Hahahahah! At that moment we both just started laughing! There was nothing more we could do. If you remember my past blog, our journey to the port was ridiculous. Lol. I didn't think we were going to be able to leave Morocco that day. This was just the topping on the cake for that day. Writing it now I'm laughing. I remember when it happened, Danielle and I just looked at each other and smiled. The man in the booth must have been able to see the frustration in our faces. He told us to go sit down and relax while they fixed the problem. So, we went and ate, had coffee and spoke with a very kind woman who worked there in the customs booth. Eventually the problem was fixed and when we went back down the line was once again extremely long! At that point I decided we were just screwed! There was no way we could get through the customs baggage check and have our passports checked, etc in time to get on the ship. The man who originally helped us, saw us and signaled for us to come forward. That wasn't uncomfortable at all. Nope. Standing in a room with Moroccans and we are the only white females and are allowed to go before everyone. They didn't know why we were pushed ahead. It was shitty walking up to the front with everyone just staring. Lol. But needless to say, we went and got through. Made it on the ship and the rest is history! Or at least has been written down in past blogs :)

Pictures of:
Florence
Siena
Tuscany (Pisa, Livorno & Volterra)

Northern Italy

We are in Rome, many more days than planned. We like it here but not as much as Florence! Florence was amazing! Great food, things to do and a hot nightlife! That's rare to find in a city, or so we have decided. We came to Rome on Monday and spent the first 2 days just seeing the city and taking it all on. We spent the yesterday by our hosts home, enjoying the park and taking in some Sun :) we decided to leave our hosts home and stay in a hostel for a few days before leaving for Sardinia. It's nice to stay in a hostel every now and then to get a break from couchsurfing. It's refreshing! Let me start from our time in Venice and staying in Padova.

We arrived in Padova after a 2 hour plane ride from Barcelona. Leaving Barcelona was a mess! My backpack was to big for our airlines liking and they made me throw away 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts so I didn't have to check on my bags (and pay €50 to do so). I was pissed, to say the least. After arriving we made it to the bus and took the bus from Trevisio airport to Padova. It was a nice ride. We were able to see many small towns and some of the country side. After arriving we walked around while waiting to meet our host, Stefano. He eventually came and we were off. Stefano was a very nice man. He lives by himself in a condo close to the bus station in Padova. We each had our own rooms which was a strange feeling since we have been sharing a bed or sharing a couch since we left. It was very nice though! Stefano spent the following day in Venice with us, showing us the city. That was nice to he wit h someone who knew what they were doing or it would have taken much longer to figure things out. He brought is to the hospital in Venice which looked like it should have been a museum! It was beautiful and has a garden inside. I took many pictures, of course! Venice was definitely much more than I expected. I'm not sure what I thought it was going to be like. I've seen movies obviously, that portray it to be a city full of canals. It was much more. The atmosphere and architecture was great. There is a cathedral that is covered in gold and the docks are surrounded by the small boats with the men who are dressed like clowns lol. Stefano brought us from one side of the island to the other. It took several hours but we made it in one day. That was a cool city to visit. We watched a lady and her child get off a taxi boat and arrive at her home, get off the boat and enter their home. That was cool. Just to think that she has to do that every time she wants to leave. A canal is her front yard! Lol! We left Venice and headed for Verona on a Sunday.

Verona was a great city. Lots to see and our host was very welcoming. It was our first female host! She was very knowledgeable about the city and even spent a day walking us around showing us stuff! There was an area very high up that she brought us to and it allowed us to have wonderful views of Verona from above. I took some neat pictures! My tooth was hurting one night so Danielle and Paola went out for wine and spritz. A spritz is a mix of champagne or white wine and campari. It's delicious and a very popular drink in Italy for an apparative. An apparative is a drink you have before appetizers or your dinner. So, we left Verona and headed for Florence! That was a long train ride, I think it took about 3 hours.

When we arrived in Florence it took us a little bit to figure out which bus to take to get to our hosts home. Once we did we then had to ask which stop to get off at since they don't state what stop tu are at anywhere! Lol! It's been a mission in Italy while riding the buses! Thankfully the people are very willing to help!

Our hosts we very cool! There are 6 flatmates. Jenni, Vincenzo and Giuseppe were the 3 we hung out with. Jenni was an awesome woman! Very interesting and well spoken. She could speak the most English which was nice. Vincenzo is a chef so he cooked some amazing meals while we were there! Giuseppe is the actual person who contacted me about surfing. He was such a sweetheart! He even let Danielle and I have his room and he shared with Vincenzo! They brought us out several nights and showed us an amazing time! We were there for international women's day and Giuseppe bought Danielle and I flowers, mimmosas to be exact. It's what the women in Italy receive on this holiday. Needless to say between the museums, amazing food, great hosts, the nightlife and wonderful sightseeing we had a spectacular time! We love Florence! We are even planning a trip back :)

We left Florence after almost 1 week there and headed for Rome! Our original plan was to fly out from Rome to Bordeaux. Well, our plans change way to often haha ...so...we decided to go to Sardinia instead after Rome. That was until Danielle lost a contact. So, now we are back to square one and going to Bordeaux!

Pictures from:
Venice
Verona
Florence
Rome

Barcelona in 4 days...

so we left Granada at 10pm on an overnight train to Barcelona. When we arrived the next morning we arrived hit the ground running and saw as much as possible. Park Greull is our favorite sight in Barcelona. The port was pretty cool too! The park has amazing views of the city though and interesting architecture. We left that night to a city about 20 miles north named Mataro. We had a couchsurfing host there. This host was very nice too! He was friendly and very informative about Barcelona another surrounding cities. He introduced us to some of his friends and brought us to a local cafe. Danielle tried a chocolate milk that she is claiming is the best she has ever tried, and she loves that stuff! Lol. Its made right here in northern Spain. We spent the next afternoon with our host, he drive us to some beautiful towns about an hour north of Mataro. One place we went to is called Calella de Palafruegell. It is a beautiful beach town, very populated in the summer time by Spaniards and other Europeans. We took pictures that look like they could be postcards! We went at sunset and had the most amazing views. Just unreal. The second place we went was to a small stone village called Peratallada. It was built back in the 13th century and is still fully functioning! That was like being in a movie or something. I felt like it was all a prop! So awesome! All the places we have seen like this have been museums or just abandoned, not literally livable. Please Google these two towns and look at pictures, etc. They are some really neat towns!and we were so thankful that our host brought us there! Well, wanted to get the bog going for this week....haven't had time to write much this week. Ill finish tonight....need to say what happened through customs in Tangier! Forgot about that, lol so funny!

Pictures from:
Barcelona
Mataró
Girona, Calella de Palafruegell & Costa Brava

Granada

We left Seville on Monday the 13. It was sad to leave. Everyone was so kind and welcoming. We made many friends some of whom I presume we will see again. Even if not, we have Facebook to keep us in contact! It was a 3 hour bus ride to Granada. Danielle gotand I had no issues this time with trying to leave, maybe that was a sign...lol. We arrived and stayed in a hostel our first night. We went out for dinner at a local bar and had delicious bocadillos! The following night we went to our first couchsurfing home. The man I was in contact with was named Hendrick. He is from Germany. He lives in a flat with 4 other people and they all go to school at the university here. They were awesome! Very warm and interesting individuals. They are all from all over the world and have couchsurfed themselves. We drank and played a card game called Bang. It took Danielle and I a bit to understand though once we did Danielle kicked our asses! I cooked a dinner for everyone. It was chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella wrapped with bacon and cheesy mashed potatoes. Boy o boy was it delicious. The following day Danielle and packed up our stuff, said goodbye to everyone and were on our way to our next home in the mountains. The group told us we could stay and even offered to cook us a meal but we wanted to keep moving on with our trip. I kind of think maybe another night there would have been fun. But we didn't. We actually stuck to our plans lol. So we waited for a bus on the other side of town to bring us into the mountains. While we were waiting this homeless drugged up man wouldn't stop talking to us. He had on a pink and orange neon Colombia jacket with gold crosses hanging from his ears. He looked marvelous! He started to sing flamenco for us and then attempted to convince Danielle that she should trade her jacket for his since they were both Colombia jackets, I almost died when I heard him trying to ask her in Spanish. She just kept saying, "no cambio"...it was great. We finally got on the bus and were on our way to our next host in the mountains. We happened to be passing through a tiny town and I saw a man running next to the bus shouting, "I'm Tom!" I realized that was our host! I asked the bus driver to stop. We grabbed our stuff and met Tom. He was with 2 other girls. They were hippies from Sweden, with long dreadlocks and baggy clothing. They had 2 dogs with them. He said he needed to come to town to buy some groceries and saw the bus coming (guess not a lot of buses come through). He said he recognized me from my pictures and figured he would just drive us up. Worked out well, Danielle and I were able to buy some groceries this way. The drive to his house was fun, all of us packed in. The view was amazing! He lives on the top of a hill in a tiny little pueblo called Baes de Granada. He showed us our rooms and ins and outs of his home. He taught me how to make Tortilla Espanola. That is my favorite meal I have had here so far! I wrote down the directions because I can't wait to share this simple meal with everyone at home! We had some wine and shared stories. Tom played his guitar and played some of the music from his band. That was nice. The girls shared some of their stories of hitch hiking from Sweden down to Spain (with 2 dogs), still can't believe they were able to do it. We went to sleep late and slept in the following day. When we woke up we had some coffee and were on our way through the mountains for the day. We started off with the girls too but they found some almond trees and decided to stay there and sick some almonds to eat. They said it was meant to be that they found the trees and needed to stay and eat. So...Danielle and I went on our way up the mountains. We picked a point and walked up. We kind of had to go side to side due to the hills, drops and valleys, etc. We made it though and had the most amazing view ever of the Sierra Nevada mountains!! We had some oranges and sausages and played some music on my cellphone. It was just grand. Once we made our way down I cooked dinner for Danielle, Tom and I. The Swedish girls were vegetarians. I fried potatoes, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, and some cheese together and added chicken towards the end. It was very good. I took a nap afterwards. We have been sitting on the couch listening to the girls sing music for us for a while now. Tom and Danielle got some wood and we are all going to enjoy the fire in the living room and have some drinks! Boy do they like to drink in Spain. So, farewell for now. I'm sure I will have a few more things to add by the weeks end. We were supposed to go to Barcelona tomorrow. We have decided to stay here in Baes for a few days and will probably leave Saturday or Sunday. We have host there too. He lives in a town outside of Barcelona and has offered to show us the city if we stay with him. We will probably do that. So, goodbye, again, lol. Hope you all are doing well! Miss u all! Xoxo

Pictures of our time in Granada!

The Dilemma

Well as I stated in the last post, we must be out of Europe after 90 days in. Since we didnt know this until half way through the trip, we didnt plan accordingly. We decided that since we have only a certain amount of time, we are going to split up for the rest of our time in Europe and do the countries we want to visit on our won since they are not the same. Danielle´s boyfriend Matt is coming to meet up with here while we are in Ireland and will go on with her through Italy and Croacia. I will stay in Ireland for about one week, do London for one day, one week in Amsterdam, a few days in Switzerland and a few days in Germany. We are going to meet in Bordeaux to say a final farewell to our brother and go to Paris for a flight to Beijing. Thats the plan. We are going to Granada, Spain on Monday for a few days. We have heard great things about Granada! There are hotsprings just outside the city, that I am going to make sure we get to! We will only be in Granada for a few days then onto Barcelona for a few days. Our sister-in-law told us the architecture is like nothing else in the world there. A man by the name of Antoni Gaudí created most of the work that you can find online, etc. We have heard so much about it and couldn´t imagine leaving Spain without seeing Barcelona. I am sick right now. I have been drinking tea all day and sleeping. I though I would write a bit on my blog. We have met so many neat people since we have been at this hostel! Many of whom we are now FB friends with. I hope to meet these people again at some point in life. We plan on stopping in Argentina to meet a guy who hosts in couchsurfing. We met him at this hostel in Seville. As I am writing this now I am listening to some great soft rock music being played over the speakers in the common area. Danielle is talking to two great girls we met from Belgium and one of the guys from Texas. This place makes you not want to leave! We had spanish sausage with cheese melted on top of it, on pieces of baguette. We let that heat up for a bit in the toaster then put olive oil on last. It was yummy! It helps that it was spanish sausgae lol...I dont care for american sausage, I have come to figure out. Well, I am going to make some more tea and go lay down for a bit. We have a a movie date with our roommate tonight. She is from Australia! Se is here taking classes trying to learn spanish. She is a very cool lady! Miss you all!! xoxox

My Love...Seville

I will say first, I will be back to this city. It is amazing! I have fallen in love. I wish I could stay. I know that in the real world, it is not possible though. The architecture here is like nothing we have seen. There is new and old. The old is kept up so well. They keep the buildings so clean and fresh. It is so neat to have done the walking tours and learn about the history of the city. It was at one point the worlds largest trading point after Columbus discovered America! They also keep the city as a whole very clean. Which is a nice thing to see, just different. We went to the Museum of the Indies. This is the building where all the important documents are held that have to do with the discovery of the Americas. That was neat to see! It is the 5th UNESCO monument and or city we have seen. I am happy to have the chance to see all of this seeing that it is has to do with the history of our world, not just my home. We have been in Seville since Sunday. We will leave Monday for Barcelona for a few days then be on a flight to Rome. Our time in Eurpoe has been cut short becuase we recently learned about the Schengen Agreement. It kinda screwed us for lack of a better way to put it lol. Please google it for more information, it´s a lot to explain on here. It is fine though, we are taking the time we have and enjoying the last few countries we are able to see. We went out with a bunch of people from the hostel last night. That was a blast! We did a "bar crawl" and ended up at a gay bar! It was the most fun we have had since we left home though. The fact that 10 people from all over the world could come together and drink and have an amazing time was just nice to see! The one thing Danielle and I have come to love about walking the streets here is all the backround mucis you hear. People just play in the streets for money but it is so nice. She says its like being in a movie. You can go from street to street and have music playing on each street. When we dont hear the music we question why lol. We saw a man dressed as a crazy clown with 2 puppets on either hand, with olny the heads popping up from the table. He would jump up at people walking by and making loud screaching noises. We stood there for a while and just laughed at the people who he would scare. It was very entertaining! There was an Irish woman who also loved it and kept coming back, that made me laugh hard too. We have found a starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts since we have been here. I am so happy about that! Well, I was just invited out by some people here in the hostel. I am going to take them up on the offer :)

Miss you all! XOXOX

Pictures from Seville!!