(From Junior Year) Easter Break: Amsterdam...mostly PG!

Amsterdam - easily one of the more laid-back trips that I went on during my year abroad. I went on this trip with my friend Al, and by this point in the year we had already had our fill of big museums and trying to cram in every last tourist activity possible. For Amsterdam, we decided to try out a different approach. We did do a couple of typical touristy things during our four day stay, but most of the time was spent soaking up the culture of the city and doing what you're really supposed to do on a vacation - relax!

Two things that we did take part in during our stay was a trip to Anne Frank's house (Anne Frank Huis) and then we took a free tour of the city (they make their only profits off of tips - if you travel to a big city in Europe, you should really look into it). The experience of going to the Anne Frank house was indescribable. It's hard to explain what you take away from it (a once-in-a-lifetime experience), and I'd really recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.

The tour was great as well. We got to see all of the highlights of the city, as well as hear a few stories that we probably wouldn't have heard otherwise. History AND entertainment - what a combo! The tour guide himself was American, but he had really embraced the culture of Amsterdam. He summed up the city in a great way - he told us that people here are not necessarily all pot-smokers or sex addicts as one is prone to think (as ridiculous as it might sound). Their philosophy tends to be more along the lines of a "live and let live" outlook on life. They don't necessarily embrace prostitution or the use of marijuana, but at the same time they won't condemn someone for doing so. Judging from the livelihood of the city it seems to have worked for them at the very least economically!

Example of how the buildings in Amsterdam lean forward slightly. This was to keep cargo (which had to be hoisted to the attic due to lack of basement) from smashing into the side of the buildings as it was lifted from the canals

Amsterdam's narrowest house (the little red stripe there). This is because they used to be taxed by how wide your house was along the street.

Canal in Amsterdam

Baba - one of the many many coffeeshops

french fries with any kind of sauce imaginable!

The canals at night...

Front of the Anne Frank Huis

Anne Frank Huis

Bridge in Amsterdam - sooooooooo many bicycles.

More leaning buildings...

Sculpture re-creation of Rembrandt painting - The Nightwatch, I think?

Yet another coffeeshop...

No explanation needed?

And they sold waffles with frosting.

See the red lights? Can you guess which district?

Sex shop about two blocks from our hostel... (This makes this blog post PG-13 I think...)

(From Junior Year) Easter Break: Venice

So as I was scanning my list of blog entries, I noticed the italicized "draft" next to a couple of posts - Venice, and Amsterdam. How could I possibly have forgotten to post them?! To remedy the situation, I'm posting them now (and experiencing a heavy dose of nostalgia!). I had only put in the pictures before, but I'll fill in the stories as best as I can along the way!

Where I last left off, my roommates Mariel, Hayley and I had started off our Easter Break trip through Italy and had spent a few days in Florence (which to this day remains one of my favorite two cities in Europe). After absolutely falling in love with Florence, we boarded the train for Venice. As trains usually do, the train to Venice ran late - Duh! We ended up having the looooongest layover EVER, which I think was in Bologna? Literally, we had to wait there for about three or four hours (which we hadn't really planned on) in order to get on the next train to Venice (Finding THAT out was a feat in itself, seeing as Italians have no sense of order what-so-ever! Well, at least not in comparison with any Austrian or German cities we have ever been to). Anyway, we FINALLY got to Venice about 11am and thus began our whirlwind trip through Venice.

Mariel with her lunch in Bologna

Not impressed with Bologna - "WE JUST WANT TO GET ON A TRAIN!"

Bridge on the Island of Murano

Once we got to Venice, we realized that maybe we should have scheduled more than a day trip to take it all in.

The city impressed me a lot more than I thought it would - I didn't expect to be blown away since you generally know what to expect when you go to Venice - canals and lots of them. The fact that we arrived there on a beautiful, sunny day made our first glace of the sparkling canals that much more impressive. And let me tell you - there is nothing like taking a ride on one of those boats! (We were even lucky enough to be out on the canals during the sunset - so picturesque!)

Rather than spending most of the day in the main part of the city, we took the vaparetto out to a couple of the larger islands surrounding Venice - Burano and Murano. We wanted to avoid any major crowds, and had read that many people miss out on this beautiful part of the area.

If you ever DO make it to Venice, I'd definitely keep the two islands in mind - Murano is where they create the world-famous Murano glass sculptures, jewelry, and various other items. The shop windows sparkle with the gorgeous (and equally expensive) creations of the local merchants. We loved not only this, but also the fact that there were not NEARLY as many tourists in Murano than in Venice itself.

After Murano, we took the next vaparetto ride out to Burano - the least populated area that we visited around Venice. Burano is a small fishing island outside of Venice that is world-famous for its lace. The shops here were VERY impressive as well (pretty much everything mildly authentic was out of my price range, but they were all pretty to look at!), and there were even less people on Burano than in Murano (probably because it took so long to get out there). This island was THE picture of Venice that people have in their minds. The houses were all painted beautiful colors, there was wash hanging on lines crossing over the canals, and unbelievably there were practically NO tourists there! Definitely the best decision we had made all day.

Mariel on the Vaparetto in Venice

Venice

Venice

Glass shop in Murano

Canal in Murano

Lace shops in Burano

Canal in Burano - SEE?!? In a word: picturesque.

Me in Burano

Sunset on the vaparetto back to Venice

Bridge of tears I think? Prisoners were led across it on their way to trial...

Gondola!

Paid way too much money for this wine...

Grand Canal

Mariel & Hayley with their Gelato

Grand Canal

One of my faves - moonlit canal in Venice

Venice

Grand Canal

Our first view of the city!

Me & Mariel on the vaparetto!

After coming back from Burano, it was already dark so we went to grab something to eat. After paying a bit too much for wine and grubbing out on some lasagna, we set out to find the train station. Once again, in true italian style, there was no logical way to go about it. There were (sometimes) TINY very non-legit looking signs posted along the dark (and sometimes sketchy) canals. It literally felt like we were in a labyrinth. We had no idea if we SHOULD trust these signs, but what other choice did we have? After a long long looooooong trip through Venice running across bridges and trying to dodge the million sellers of fake designer purses (A HUGE PROBLEM IN ITALY! This is one of the main reasons why we wanted to leave the main part of Venice city and go to the islands!!! Sometimes these sellers would LITERALLY block your way as you walked down the sidewalks), suddenly the train station appeared in front of us in all its grandeour! Two words came to mind: Thank. God.

Little did we know that we weren't out of the woods yet. We got on a train about three hours later, and hoped that the fact that reservations were "highly suggested" would not make a difference. Long story short, we were woken up about 2am by a rather frustrated conductor who allowed us to sit on fold-down seats in the hallway outside the compartments, since the train was in fact completely booked. Little to no sleep was achieved, but at least we made it back to Innsbruck!

Easter Break: Florence!

Firenze: Heaven on Earth!

If there was one city that could rival Dublin for my favorite in Europe, Florence would be it. I chose Florence as my first solo trip...not just in Europe, but really in my life. I absolutely fell in love with the city...it was like Paris in that there was SO much to do and it was SO beautiful and picturesque, but everything was very close together! I had learned the city inside and out by the end of my first day there...by the time I met up with my two roommates (Hayley and Mariel) the next day, I had it all figured out.

The train ride on the way there was definitely interesting as well...I had to put up with drunken Austrian teenage boys at 9am, then ended up having a conductor jabber at me in Italian (and ended up dishing out 23 Euro for getting on a nicer train than I was supposed to), but I MADE IT to Florence! Phew, that part was over. If I could make it through the train ride, I was home-free, right? ...WRONG!

As soon as I got off the train, the next step was to find my way to the hostel. "Okay, looking for (insert name) Street..." Definitely took me a half and hour or so to find the street I was looking for. All I have to say is that these street names need to stop CHANGING! Pick one, and stick with it. Let's not change the name every 50 meters because we FEEL like it! Sheesh.

Anyway, I'm finally on my way to my hotel. Suddenly, to my right appears the San Lorenzo Leather Market. This was not my last run-in with a leather market, but let me just sum it up that I walked away from those markets with a new purse and pair of sunglasses...and NO regrets! Haggling is one of my new favorite hobbies.

The hotel that I stayed at was a WONDERFUL surprise! Private room, private bath with a HOT shower, and free breakfast...all for 20 Euro per night. LOVELY! If you ever make it to Florence, look up Hotel Colorado. May not be high-class, but they're amazing!

I have to admit, the thought of being by myself was terrifying at first, but it really grew on me. I HAD to make decisions, and didn't have to constantly worry about making someone else happy. It was quite pleasant, actually. I wandered around the city with no particular goals, going past the Duomo, the Uffizi, and the Ponte Vecchio. I spent my time taking pictures, wandering through the markets and finally going through the Boboli Gardens (the one real goal I had that day). The whole experience was amazing...(I also was reminded of how magnificent gelato was...YUM!)

Ponte Veccio
San Lorenzo

Leather market at San Lorenzo

Duomo

By the Uffizi...

Fountain in the Piazza by the Uffizi

Another leather market!!!

By the Ponte Veccio

Boboli Gardens

View of Florence from the Boboli Gardens

Statue of Bacchus in the Boboli Gardens

GELATO in a shop on the Ponte Veccio

View from the Ponte Veccio

At the beginning of day 2, I headed out early to a fruit and veggie market and a flea market on the other side of the town. I KNOW that it is SO expected, but I grabbed some grapes and ate them as I leisurely strolled around the city. My roommates weren't due to meet me until later in the afternoon, so I had time to kill.

Fruit Market

I'll try to spare you most of the minute details, but basically as soon as my roommates made it in, we hit the ground running. The first night we went to the Duomo, to San Croce Church, and Via de' Tornabouni (the main shopping street) before grabbing some dinner at Il Cantinone...which in my opinion was a little overly priced. We ended the day as every day in Florence should end...with gelato! We went to Grom Gelateria, which has been agreed upon as the group favorite. (Walnut flavored gelato NEEDS to be introduced to the US...)

"The Gates of Paradise"

Ponte Veccio

Jewelry display window on the Ponte Veccio

The next day was even more jam-packed! We saw Michelangelo's David at the Accademia, Fra Angelico's multiple frescoes at San Marco, the San Lorenzo Basilica, Santa Maria Novella church, the Santa Maria Novella Parfumerie, and FINALLY had reservations at the Uffizi to end the day! The Uffizi was my favorite part - EVERY room held one masterpiece or another, and it was small enough where you weren't rushing around constantly. Michelangelo's David was also MUCH more impressive than I thought it would be. I've heard people describe it as an almost religious experience, and having been there I would totaly agree.

For dinner, we went to a self-service cafeteria, and it was AMAZING. If you ever go to Italy, I'd really recommend it...it's waaaaay cheaper that most restaurants, and I feel like you get more for your money this way. If you couldn't guess already, we ended the day once again with gelato...perfection!

Michelangelo's Tomb (in San Croce, I think?)

Ponte Veccio at night

Grom Gelateria

Mariel and I enjoying our gelato

Piazza Annunziata (I think?)

View of the Ponte Veccio from the Uffizi

Mariel and I at the Ponte Veccio

Hayley, me and Mariel on the Ponte Veccio

Hayley and I at San Marco

Mariel and I in our "monk-chairs" at San Marco

Hayley and I at San Lorenzo