June 29th, 2012

RIP Mommy,
I miss you so much words can not even express. I wish I was able to tell you everything about my trip and see how excited you are for me that I actual had the courage to do this. But you are watching me living it with me as I go. You are the best mom in the whole world and I miss you so much!
Love always,
Kelly


Went to the beach and had a really relaxing day. Going out tonight to dance my ass off in honor of my mother! Love you so much!



Siempre en mi corazón para siempre!

June 28th, 2012

Today was our first full day in Barcelona! We had a nice 3 and half hour bus tour in the heat which gave us a really nice overview of the whole city. We got to see a really interesting church. The architecture had fruit on it and it had like cows and different animals from spain. It was just different but very unique.

Next, we went to a cooking class where we learned how to make sangria, tapas, and palleya. It was really nice expect for the part where he took us through the market to teach us how to buy the products and i saw full pigs and lamb heads. Mucho gross.

So the cooking class was 10 minutes away from the beach so we went to the beach after that and got out tan on.


All around good day!

June 27th, 2012

BUS BUS BUS! OH how i hate BUSES!!! This is the second to last bus ride day that we will have. Pretty excited about that!

Made it to Barcelona and had a walking tour at night and watch the football game. Spain vs. Portugal. Really intense game and the atmosphere in the pub was so intense it was just someplace that you needed to be. After that we went to this bar that had 500 different kinds of shots that you can take. PS they were 2 euros each all of them so that pretty much was the whole day!

June 26th, 2012

Today was a driving day to Provence. We stopped in three places to venture and look around/ eat lunch and dinner. Our hotel is in the middle of nowhere and their is nothing to do around their so we made many little stops so that we were occupied. Our first stop was to see the Popes Castle. In Italy when Roman Catholic was not the top religion and the ruler didnt really want them there, the Pope moved into this castle for protection. This castle was really nice and big.

After that then we went to this very old bridge that was created in the 14 BC It was really nice and people were able to swim and cliff jump. A lot of people in my group were jumping off the cliff which was fun to watch but I definitely was not going to do that. No bueno with the heights.

Next, we went to an ampthetheater that was very similar looking to the Colusseum but much smaller. It gave us a wonderful view of the whole city and you were able to climb all the way to the top of the seating which was fun and scary all at the same time. My friend Cristina decided she wanted to have a good picture so she got on top of the wall and stood up. Oh my God mini heart attack. I AM SO SCARED HEIGHTS!

Off to Barcelona Tomorrow! Adios.

June 24th, 2012

Driving to the French Riviera today. We got to stop in Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was pretty sweet to be able to do the classic holding up the building.

When you arrive in the French Riviera you feel rich like no joke I saw yachts bigger then my house. We did not get to go into the city yet but we drove on the hillside right above it and it was absolutely magnificent.

June 25th, 2012

Our hotel was on the beach so today was a beach shopping day. I wanted to get a new dress for tonight because we are going to the world famous Monte Carlo Grand Casino. So Gio, Britney, and me went to downtown Cannes and ventured to try and find dresses. We at first found really expensive dressed and then we found this store that was super super cheap. I got a nice fancy long black dress for 14 euros. Super excited about that and then it was to the beach we went. Some pure genius in our group decided to look up shark statistics for this area and we were in the most populated area for great white sharks ( lol sean, you want to go swimming ). So after that I was looking over my shoulder every time I went swimming lol. People need to not tell me these things.

So swimming and getting nice and tan, everyone got ready to go to the casino. We had dinner at the top of a hill which was beautiful because it looked over the whole city of Monaco. Next we went to the casino. Lambos, Ferraris, Maserati, Porsche, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Bentleys, Like legit saw them all parked outside of this casino no big deal. The Grand Casino was absolutely beautiful. It had painting all over the wall and so many beautiful architecture. It was definitely glitz and glamour.

Off to Provence tomorrow then Barcelona!

June 23rd, 2012

Florence is probably my favorite city that I really fell in love with. It just has a certain air to it that I really loved. It is a semi small city that is not into the party life and more into the arts which I truly enjoyed. Today we took a walking tour in the morning and saw the Duoma which was a very gothic designed church. It colors on the outside were green, red, and white which made the church very unique compared to the other churches that I have visited. After the tour, we just walked around the city and did a bit of shopping which as a girl is always fun lol. Then, I had the wonderful opportunity to for my laundry. It was glorious because I desperately needed to do it uhh clean clothes WINNING!

Moving on to the French Riviera tomorrow. Stopping in Pisa for a bit thought :)

See ya!

June 22nd, 2012

Bus ride from Rome to Florence..... Yuck! We stopped in Assisi which was a cute little very religious town that was perfect to have lunch. It had amazing views of the valley and it was just beautiful. We went in St. Francis basilica. This was such a beautiful church but the best part of this church was that I got to see the tomb of St. Francis which was really nice to see. ( Mary Ann I got to see St. Francis :) I honestly get really excited to see tombs of saints and everything. I think it is so interesting because I have never seen saints tombs before. We don't have that in the states and if we did I have never seen one. It's just really cool.

After Assisi, got back on the bus and drove the rest of the way to Florence. Florence is really cute and small. It's one of those towns you can walk around in and just get lost and you will find hidden interesting things. Or you can sit with a bottle of wine and watch people go by. It just a very beautiful and artsy city.

Chao

June 21st, 2012

I felt super blessed today. The Vatican was so beautiful. Like seriously I just felt so blessed. I saw the Sistine Chapel and all of Michelangelo's work was just a blessing to be in front of to look at and to see. It is 100 times better to see in person then on a computer screen. Every piece of the paintings comes with a little story either has to do with the Bible or just in the process of the paintings. For example the last piece he did was called the Last Judgment and when asked to paint this piece the Pope allowed him to paint with whatever colors he liked. In the olden days, colors like blue and red were really expensive to paint with because most of the paints came from ground up rocks that were made into a liquid and then put on wet plaster. The wet plaster technique painting is called Fresco painting. Fresco paintings last forever because the plaster absorbs the paint. Only problem with fresco painting is that when your make a mistake you have to chip it away from the wall, plaster over and start again. Not many artists liked that little problem :/ But his pieces were amazing. Just pure genius.

Next was St. Peter's Basilica. This is about 4 football fields big and the highest point is about 400 ft. tall. That is quite large for a church. This church is so unique! The have relics of everything in their. For example, St. Peter's Basilica contains a couple of the nails that Jesus was nailed to the cross with, it contains the cloth that was used to wipe Jesus face, it also contains every Popes body underneath the church in a crypt and lastly St. Peter's Basilica was built on top of St. Peter's grave. Just so cool. The church was covered in status. Like covered and Michelangelo created a lot of those status as well as doing the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. (Fun fact: Michelangelo studied painting but was known for his sculptures until he created the Sistine Chapel. He was pretty much forced to paint the Sistine Chapel by the Pope even though Michelangelo really did not want to.) Ok I know this is a long blog but last thing. Ok so their is two saints that are buried above ground in a glass box that the public can see. Legit you can see the saints lying right in front of you. Like you can see them! Sorry but it was so creepy and really interesting all at the same time.

Off to Florence tomorrow.

Chao Chao

June 20th, 2012

COLOSSEUM today! It was uhh I can't even explain the excitement I had walking into it :) . So much history in one place which made it was absolutely amazing. I really loved learning about the Colosseum and how it was built, etc. It was just really nice to be in the present of such rich history. Then we went to the Roman ruins which is a little city type place that contains all of the ruins which was super amazing. Just amazing period.

Next, the Trevi Fountain is probably the most crowded place ever. Everyone is their making wishes. AHH I made so many wishes lol.

Chao

June 19th, 2012

Ok so today is a total blahh day. I woke up super early to go back on the bus to go to Rome. It was an 8 hour ride. No bueno oh well. Rome is absolutely beautiful though from the mini walking tour we took. PS Rome is in a heat wave here so it is really REALLY HOT like 110 degrees. Kinda melting not gunna lie.

June 18th, 2012

Venice!!! Oh how I really enjoyed that city. The fact that it is surrounded by water and you take boats to get around the city is probably the greatest thing ever. So in the morning we took a walking tour of the city getting to know the highlights of the city like St. Marc's square. I went into the basilica which let me tell you was absolutely beautiful. Churches sometimes have this creepy feel to them but this church was covered head to toe with paintings which made it very warm to go into. Next, I went to the palace. This palace had many many rooms that contained such wonderful art that accented each room. The best part of this whole palace was hands down the dungeons. The dungeons were so interesting and quite large if I may say so. The whole palace was just super interesting. After our wonderful day in Venice, our tour director told us that he had a surprise for us. Turns out he took us to a vineyard to learn about wine and taste some wines exclusive to Italy. These wines are not in the US at all. So I definitely got bottle or two (wink wink daddy :) They were really good :)

Off to Rome tomorrow. 7 hours on a bus. God bless my knees that they don't fall off.

Chao

June 17th, 2012

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!! I love you so much! Can't wait to see you super soon!

So today was another wonderful day in a bus traveling to Italy. Ok so people from Italy are very tiny which makes this bus and me not mix very well. My knees hit the seat in front of me for 6 hours which concluded in bruised knees yay! So we finally got to Italy and we had the opportunity to go swimming in a lake which felt so great! First time in the water was amazing. Then we headed to this town outside of Venice where our hotel is located.

So Venice tomorrow for a whole day!


xoxoxo

June 16th, 2012

I finally got to wake up late! YAY! It was so nice to sleep in lol. I appreciate sleep alot more now lol. Anyway I walked this fort wall which gave amazing views of Lucern and then I sat by the water and put my feet in Lake Lucern it was a very relaxing day, which was really nice from the hectic moving around and touring all day.

Italy in the morning!!!!

June 15th, 2012

OK so another wonderful bus drive yay 6 hours. If anyone thinks im getting on another bus after this trip hahaha you are sadly mistaken I will drive myself. Can not handle being a bus for a while. Anyway today we are going to Lucern. On our way to Lucern we stopped in the Black forest to have lunch. The Black forest is famous because it was where fairytales like the Grimm brothers took place. It was really nice to have lunch their and learn about coco clocks which Switzerland is famous for. Arriving in Lucern, it is so BEAUTIFUL not like building are so old beautiful but like lake lucern is AMAZING and the Swiss Alps are in the backdrop. Anywhere from the city and you look up most likely you can see the alps. Its really awesome!

June 14th, 2012

Today we drove to Heidelberg (oh i totally messed up that spelling) Germany where we got to see a castle that the King and Queen used when Germany was still under monarchy rule. Today however they have the same government as us and the castle is just a really nice museum :) The castle was on top of a hill which gave you a breathtaking view of the city. The city is so cute and really pretty. Little shops, churches, cafes, and bakeries were just some of the things that the town had to offer. It was just really beautiful place to visits. We slept in Ludwigshafen (haha i don't even know how to pronounce that) and today we are moving on to Switzerland.

Another 6 hour bus ride.

Goodbye in German ( i don't know what it is)

June 13th, 2012

So I still feel like crap but I am up and about today anyway. Just keep going. A bike ride of the Dutch country side was just a wonderful idea. Haha probably not but oh well. The outskirts of Amsterdam are really beautiful (lots of farm land and open fields) and very old fashion, like when you imagine all school Dutch that is exactly what it is. Cottages, Windmills, Chocolate factories are just a few of  the wonderful things that I experienced on this bike tour. We actually got to see how clogs were made and also  cheese. The clogs were really interesting to watch. It took a matter of 5 minutes for him to make one shoe but he said that back then it took about 3 hours. Oh how technology has advanced the clog industry. Next, was the cheese factory where they told us how they made the cheese and how long it has to sit for 4 weeks to mature for eating. It was really interesting, the whole process and everything. After coming back from lots of fresh air and a workout on the bike, I headed to the laundrymat to clean my clothes. Need some fresh clothes to wear lol. Oh and the highlight of my whole day was the fact that I felt so sick that I had to call a doctor to come and make a hotel call in fricken AMSTERDAM to come and check me out. My stomach hurts to bad that I could not handle it anymore. Not gunna lie I was kinda worried because it's a different country and I dont know how doctors and medicine work here. SUPER! So yeah that was my day

Off to Germany tomorrow morning.

June 12th, 2012

Oh Amsterdam, or as our tour guide, Mike says Amsterdamage. If you want to know anything about Amsterdam, ask me in person. It is something I definately can not write on this blog. Let me just say tho it is absolutely INSANE! So I slept in so that I can kill that little sickness that I have and I got up and went to the Anne Frank house which today is her birthday. It was really sad to see exactly where they lived to escape the Nazi's and in the end all of them died except for her father. It was a tear jerker. Next, I went to the Van Gogh museum which was TOTALLY AWESOME. Learning about art for the last 4 years, I got to see some of the originals that I have learned about in the classroom. They had a whole floor dedicated to graphic design so I saw some orginial posters and graphic design works which i totally geeked out over.

One more day in Amsterdamage, then on to Germany

June 11th, 2012

BUSES STINK BIG TIME. Going from Paris to Brussels to Amsterdam. It took us like 8 hours on a bus to get to every place. Brussels was really nice. The belguim waffles are amazing. If you think that you have had a good waffle oh no you have not this was so good. Their chocolate is really good as well. So after gettting to Brussels and eating a waffle, we were off to Amsterdam. Oh so much time on a bus I think got me sick because when we got to Amsterdam I had a fever. Uhh I felt so sick. Everyone on this trip is getting sick and I hope that it is just a 24 hour thing. 

Cross you fingers I get better quick

June 10th,2012

The Mona Lisa. I have heard about it. Studied it for a long time in art history classes and today I got to see it. The Louve is like 3 times the size of the Moma in NYC. It is very overwhelming but it was super exciting to finally see it. At night I went up the Eiffel Tower and got the best view of the city ever. It was breathtaking.


On to Brussels for lunch then Amsterdam.

June 9th, 2012

Woke up nice and early and took a bus tour of Paris. Saw everything from Arc de romphe Etoile, the Eiffel Tower, and the Musee de Larmee. They were all so great to see. Learning about all these places in school has nothing on see them in person. After the bus tour I went to Versailles. Ok let me explain this. Versailles is a palace that is like double of the maybe even triple the size of the White house. Every room in the palace has fresco paintings on the ceilings and gold. HOLY HOLY GOLD EVERYWHERE. Gold trim on the molding, gold in the paintings, and in the queen and kings rooms their beds where made of gold. Painting everywhere of everything saints, kings, queens, children, mistresses, everything. This castle became pretty famous because this was where Maria Antoinette lived. Ok so im done explaining the palace which you can imagine what that was like. Now for the gardens. The gardens are about 2 miles long and that is in three directions (back, side and other side, not the front). When looking at them you picture Alice and Wonderland. Lots of mazes. Statues were everywhere and the mistress house was in the gardens as well. Mistresses were not allowed to live in the palace so they built separate quarters for them. Like nothing I have ever seen compares to this. So much history and wealth packed into one place. It was unreal.

June 8th, 2012

.... the EuroStar umm I can't even tell you what the was like because I was asleep. However, I was told that it was nice except 85% of it was underwater in a tunnel so I didn't miss much. When arriving in Paris, we checked in to like, in my eyes now, is a 5 star hotel because it actually has a bathroom where I can shower and have enough room to shave my legs without getting water everywhere. In the bathroom in London, there was no room what so ever to do anything. So right now I am pretty happy. After checking in, we went to Notre Dame. This is by far the most beautiful church that I have been too. Think about St. Pats in NYC and imagine more stain glass, 4 rose windows that accent the middle of the church on every side, and gargoyles that accent the outer roof to scare off bad spirits. It was just really amazing how they created this whole church. Next, we were put on a boat ride that took us around the city to see the highlights of the city which gave us an awesome view of the one and only Eiffel Tower. It is just beautiful to see. I have always wanted to go to Paris to see this and I finally did. It was just an amazing feeling. Oh another thing my french very bad and almost non existent so..... I say hello and then start to speak english. Some of them get what I am saying others its is a bit more difficult. Oh well.

Au revoir

June 6th, 2012

Hop on hop off bus day yay. I legit went everywhere that I could exploring the city. The hop on hop off bus is this big bus that has the top deck open for viewing and they have a commentary during the whole trip telling you the history. It was really interesting. We got to see the gardens where the peter pan statue is, big ben (at like every different angle), buckingham palace, the eye (which is a giant ferris wheel that gives you the best view of the city), and a ton more places that I cannot remember at the moment. It is just so much it one day it is becoming a blur. It was a lot of fun tho to get to see the whole city. The people here are really friendly and are so nice when I ask them a question about where we are because we get lost on a constant bases BUT (don't get nervous dad) we ALWAYS find our way back. They don't mind being bothered with direction which it has to do with streets or the "tub" (which is their lovely name for the subway lol ). Unfortunately, we are probably screwed for the other cities with the whole different language thing. Oh well we will figure it out. It really is a different atmosphere over here but it has something about it that makes it a lovely city.

Bye

June 7th, 2012

Ok so I woke up late because the 7 alarms we set never went off. So getting on the bus going to Stonehenge I was that girl that was late. Hahaha oh well shit happens. So I went to Bath first and saw the hot springs that date back to the Roman times which I thought were really cool. Everything here is super old in a very nice and magical (magical way by means of like Cinderella and castles etc. ) way but everything also contains a story. It's really very interesting. Next, we ventured to Stonehenge where it was legit like mini hurricaning lol. I got completely soaked which also included my camera. Everything was a mess. Stonehenge was nice though. The funny thing about the British people here is that they preach that there is no reason that Stonehenge was created but in the US they give us a guess that it was created for calender and time use but using the sun and shadows. Really interesting how the teaching are also different here. After that camera incident, I got myself a new camera and now it's waterproof (not doing that again). But all in all it was a good day just really busy and little stressful but oh well. Tomorrow we wake up super early to get on the Eurostar to go to Paris! Cannot be more excited.

June 4-5, 2012

Today is my departure day. I am currently at La Guardia waiting for my first flight going into Philadelphia. Next, is Philadelphia to London. Good thing I am a pro at sleeping on airplanes. I will be waking up in London. I blew a fuse from being so excited and have currently given myself a headache. Super job Kel.

Oh well some sleep will fix everything.

Waking up in London, Oh how it is so different. Just got a mini tour of the central city of London and he told us that gas was about $11.00 a gallon and that homes here which are equivalent to brownstones in nyc but condition wise a bit worse are about 4 million dollars. One the of most expensive cities. Food is going to be crazy expensive.

Super tired but I am ready to explore.

Later :)