Italy (Firenze, Venezia, Roma)

Italy. So we arrived in Italy. We made all of our trains (somehow). I think we had 4 connecting ones to catch.  Mary Katherine (another of Sophie's friends) picked us up at the train station so we didn't have to try and find it in the dark. Mary Katherine also goes to the University of Alabama and knows Sophie because they are both in the Psychology program there. So that was nice of her to let us, 3, now stay with her. Mary Katherine's apartment is about a 10 minute walk from the train station. We settled in and told her all of our stories since we had seen her last. (Mary Katherine was the friend of Sophie's that we also got to meet up with in Barcelona) It was so nice to be back into a "home" and not another hostel. I know we have been apartment hoping with our (Sophie's) friends, but it's just so much nicer than being on our own in smelly hostels!

Our current backpackers status that I had given us was "Worst Backpackers" so we are going to try and improve that status.  We are heading to the train station for (hopefully) some good news.  We keep having this problem reserving trains and you can't reserve trains to other countries unless you are in that country which doesn't make sense because.. yes that is what we are trying to do.. get to that country! This could really up our status if someone could reserve some trains for us. 

The next morning the 4th of April we got up, crossed our fingers and toes, and headed to the train station. We had planned our whole trip out, but like I said, reservations for trains are kicking our butts!! This will be at the top of my backpacking list for any of you interested. 
We had no idea where we were going to be able to go after Italy. So at the train station we waited in the ticket line. (Please let someone speak English, please let someone speak English, please let our person speak English......)  Next.

Our man spoke England. Check. 
Booked our trains within Italy. Check. 
Book our trains to Switzerland. Check. 
(Holy crap we are on a role--the biggest smiles you have probably seen before; too good to be true?) 
He told us the train we needed to Austria couldn't be booked. Shoot.
Our next country we were planning on going was Hungary (Budapest). It was looking like the same train that would have taken us to Austria was the same one going to Hungary, so he didn't think we would be able to book that one either. He told us that he would still give it a shot though....
IT WORKED! Holy moly this was great. Booked our train to Budapest. Check.

We could get to Austria from Budapest without a reservation. Some trains require a reservation and others don't. It just depends. So with the railpass we can go on any train "for free" (because we bought the pass); unless it requires a reservation which you will pay extra for.. how much extra depends...

Last but not least, we booked a night train to Prague. Bam!
We won! I about fainted with our train luck.

Us and our young and naive backpacker status. But we FINALLY had a plan of where we were going to go for sure!!! (we knew where we were going and had it all planned out until we realized we needed all these reservations. it switched up our game a little bit!) '

Ok, ok, enough. I'll stop with that. So we left happy (although the long line behind us wasn't looking too fond of us)

Next stop. The tourist office.
One of the greatest stops anyone can make in a city/country/wherever/whenever.
Free maps, advice, help. We were going to collect our maps when out of the corner of my eye a sign catches my eye. FREE WHEEL CHAIRS.
Um, guys.... you thinking what i'm thinking? Will you push me around? Yep! So I get a free wheel chair for the day. Score. Remember I am just walking with crutches, and I am getting tired really quickly. Also, with the type of crutches I had I still had to put weight on my foot which wasn't ideal.

Not only did we get a wheel chair and free maps.. they told us where to go to get a boot for my foot. This is GREAT news. I may be mobile again! We have literally looked everywhere. This would be icing on the day if they really had boots at this place.

We set off to explore Firenze (Florence).... I can't quit laughing. Sophie is pushing me and we look like goobers. Cobblestone isn't ideal for wheelchairs I must admit. I was almost dumped a few times face first. We run into this beautiful church, just incredible. We are about to get in line to go inside when they tell us we can go to the back of the church and get in there for wheel chair access. We get in right away. No line. Sooo basically you can imagine how awesome our day is going........ has our luck turned?!?!
The inside can't compare to the grand outside.

Next stop. Pharmacy. We find it and they have a boot!!!! For 180 euros. Ouch. That's really expensive. I decided I better call my mom with a purchase like that. I don't need to go wasting my money now. I'm doing enough of that already. 
I had a wonderful older Italian man helping me. I was glad it was his shop. I told told I would be back after calling my mom (which means waiting for the 7 hour time change and to find a place with free wifi that my phone can connect to). He is probably thinking yeah right.. 

So we continued our journey around Florence. Next stop, David. 

The museum Academia to get into see him is a crazy long line.  Well we want to see him, so to the back of the line we go. We were waiting there about 7 minutes (at least an hour to go it is looking) when a lady came up and told me I was an "invalid" and could go to the front of the line. What?! With my friends?? Yes,  you are in a wheelchair and so we don't want to make you wait.. you can go to the front. Ok!! Thank you! 

David was giant. Huge sculpture. We were not supposed to take pictures, but I thought.. if my phone doesn't even have a flash then why not? I'm not going to hurt anything.. I don't think. 
David was definitely the main point of the museum even though the rest of the sculptures and paintings were great. Since I was in the wheel chair we were going to go up some stairs and I got to get put in the little lift to go up the whole 10 stairs. Ha. Sorry ma'am, I really probably could have walked. 

(Stole this from Jessica)

We left heading for food. Pizza! The first thing that is different for restaurants is that they have cover charges and tip added into the bill. So we had a 2 euro cover fee, which is basically just to sit there. (And if you didn't know... Europe doesn't really tip. I have yet to see people tip or tip myself since I have been here. You are not supposed to like the US.) But the pizza was great. 

Next was the bridge of Ponte vecchio.  It was so neat. What do you think??

Incase you have all forgotten. Jess is on the left and Sophie on the right. :)

A lot of jewelry shops in the bridge. We bought some gelato and had a nice sit, just looking around taking it all in. 

Everywhere we go there are tons of markets and a lot of things to buy. But in particular Italy has a lot of leather. We are big fans of stopping at all of those little store you see that all sell the same things. :) I love markets.  We needed to return my wheelchair so had to head back to the tourist office a little sooner than we wanted to. At that time I got to call my mom and she said that I should get the boot. Back to the pharmacy we go! The old man was kind as ever and even pulled my in for a kiss on the cheek after I swiped my credit card. Ha! How about that. 

My boot is feeling pretty dandy. I walked all the way back to Mary Kathrine's without help of the crutches or a wheelchair! All by myself!! That night we made dinner. Fresh bruschetta and then some cheese bread and marinara sauce. 3 euros each is a pretty cheap dindin. Oh! And of course some vino, can't forget the wine. Later that night we went to an Irish pub with Mary Kathrine and her roommates. They had an Iowa shirt on the ceiling! I was thrilled :) 

Boom baby!! And now the boot is introduced into our trip! 

Mary Kathrine (our wonderful host), Soph, Jess, and I

The next morning we took off for Venice. It rained all morning...all afternoon... and all night. Holy moly, we were soaked. We walked around venice all day long. There isn't a lot to do in that particular city--but wow was it amazing. So beautiful. And incredibly easy to get lost in. So man canals, small alleys, twists, turns and bridges. On our quest back to the train station we had to ask approximately 10 people where the train station was. Either we are terrible at follow their directions or their directions are pretty vague (I think the latter). Basically they all went a little like this. Go straight, on the second bridge take a right, and then cross the canal take a left and just follow that right up. Yeah, and every time we didn't end up at the train station. 
There isn't much more to say about Venice. I was shaking cold with wet feet. Even my water proof jacket was having enough of this rain. It was one of the worst weather days that we had, but I still have a good memory of Venice. Just can't get over how cool of a city it was! 

Do you know the show Cake Boss?? Can you hear Buddy saying "Cannolis!"  

This is how I felt at the end of the day!! No more anything!! I just want to sit 

We get back to Florence after a long day in Venice. Mary Kathrine has wine waiting for us. Just what we needed! 
Where are we going tomorrow???? ROMA! 

We left for Rome early on the 6th. Every time we go somewhere we generally get up really early and plan to go to bed early, but when you finally have wifi it's just too exciting and we end up going to bed way later then planned. So that means that we didn't have much sleep before we left for Rome. Our train ride didn't take too long only about an hour and a half. When we get to Rome we check in right away and headed to a market to get some baguettes for lunch. We ate them by this fountain! (As you may have noticed we often times don't know the names of everything we come across---my apologies!! Otherwise you bet I would tell you)
We ate then just enjoyed our day exploring Rome. 

Pantheon  

Pantheon huge and amazing (like everything else is) me next to the pillar. 

On Sunday we got up and headed to the Vatican. We attended church at St. Peters Cathedral and although none of us are catholic we really enjoyed it. It was really powerful for me. Then after mass we walked outside to a sea of people. What is going on?? It was exactly like the movies when you see masses of people all crowded in the circular area of the Vatican. 

That is the little window that the Pope peeked his head out of! 

The Pope was about to give a speech in 10 minutes!!!!! What are the chances! He opened a little window and the crowd went wild!! Yelling, clapping, waving flags... I don't know what he said.. but people listened intently and even laughed at the end.  I couldn't believe how wonderful my Sunday morning had been! WE then took the metro to the colosseum.  Huge, huge, absolutely huge. How did man do this? The colosseum looked even more wonderful with the pretty blue sky. We spent a lot of time there. Did I mention we got to skip the huge line because of my foot once more?? We just stood and line and they spotted me and let me go to the front of the line. Well heck, maybe my foot thing happened for a reason?? Ha! 

Look at that blue sky! I told you! It looks like a postcard huh??? 

We had pizza, pasta, gelato, and most importantly wine. We went to Florence, Venice, and Rome. Successful trip to Italy! We went back to Florence for one last night. This morning, 8th of April, we did our fair share of last minute market shopping and then Mary Katherine took us to a look out over Florence. On the way up the hill it was sprinkling, but Sophie felt something hit her. Sophie got pooped on...on her face! her hair! and jacket. Hahaha. That beat my own poop on jeans time. Before we helped her out we made her wait to take a picture :) I wonder if we will have a number 3?? 

the look out... Amazing view. It just took me a heck of a time to get up there with all the stairs. Especially when it rains it is really slick for me. We hurried and grabbed a baguette for lunch (79 cents... can't go wrong) and hit the train. After a few too many switches of trains we finally arrived in Switzerland. It's night right ow and I think I am going to love it here. Xxx 


There are way too many awesome pictures to share with you on just this blog post... you are going to have to check them out on my facebook! :)))

Can't wait to share Switzerland! :)

South of France--Marseilles & Aix En Provence

We left Spain on Easter Sunday (March 31st) and headed to Marseilles, France. It was a straight long day of traveling.. with crutches. Every train ride all I do is sleep or write. Too bad i'm not motivated enough to finish my Medieval History paper yet. Maybe later.. 
Things haven't been too smooth in Spain. Maybe France will be a new start! Our connecting trains and reservations for them need work.  A lot to learn for us 20, 21 year olds! 

Train station above and dinner below. I found Lays!

After 20-30 minutes of walking/trying to find the hostel in Marseilles....in the dark... we finally made it.  So happy i'm alive.  I get really sketched out in cities at night when i don't know where i'm going and European guys (not all, but some in every country) like to look and make a lot of comments.  Not my cup of tea.  But we made it. We had a hard time figuring out how to open the door to get inside..and once we did I just wanted to sit. My foot hurts. I look up and there it is.... 

Stairs and stairs and stairs.... yay...... not exactly what I was hoping for in crutches. We hiked the stairs and checked in. We opted to share a bed rather than sleep in two different rooms.  It was my first experience with mixed gender rooms. Not that I don't trust guy, I just don't trust anyone and I have weird feelings about this place.  That's when I did what my dad would want me to do. Get my mummy bag out and shove my purse and valuables in the bottom and sleep peacefully in my sleeping bag.  I did sleep. I am not so sure about peacefully. This might have been the first night that I shed a few tears before I fell asleep because I was just.. honestly scared. I didn't feel safe. After a night of sleep we got up and had breakfast and headed into town (on bikes!) crutch in basket like any French person would do with a baguette haha. 

We had train business to figure out. While Sophie was in the train station i'm outside guarding our bikes (150 euros if stolen) so i'm sitting there..........forever. Freezing, hoping she comes back with good news. When she comes back........BAD news. Just so happens that a bird poops on my leg at the same time. Great. My luck. Instead of freaking out...I took a picture for my viewers. Here ya go. 

Grand staircase to the station. 

Bird poop on my leg! 

Sophie had to go back inside to finish our business. She goes back in and comes out with good news about how we can get to Italy! Finally some good news. We needed that! (Our trains are definitely not going how we planned) So we finish looking at the city of Marseilles (in the rain) and go to the hostel to relay a message to Jessica, because we aren't going to be able to get to Paris to meet her like originally planned. Oops. We had to go back to the hotel because we needed WiFi. While we are on this trip we can't just text whoever whenever.... something we had to get used too. Cells phones were just part of our lives before we left. Don't worry... i'm learning :) 

Time to move on to Aix En Provence. Crutches in hand. Backpack on back. And hood up. Let's do this. We make it to the train station in time... always a good thing. It is a short 40 minute train from Marseilles to Aix En Provence.  

A few pictures of Marseilles

Is is a short 40 minute train ride from Marseilles o Aix En Provence.   Sophie and I were just sitting there laughing about our luck thinking things have to look up soon. I'm about to write in my journal when our train stops (normal) but at this particular stop 4 kids run on our train, reach behind Sophie and grab her phone out of her hands and bolt out the door. Sophie chases them. I'm left on the train thinking (OH MY GOSH what if they leave and i am on this train?!?! In all the mess of this I still haven't totally comprehended what is going on) .......

Out of panic and everything else I manage to grab our purses (Sophie's purse was sitting there and they could have taken that 10x easier than grabbing her phone out of her hands) anyways, I grab our purses, two backpacks, bag of food, and crutches. How? I cannot tell you.  I am on the platform and Sophie is nowhere to be found.....

SOHPIE!!! SOPHIE!!! (Did they take her? Are they kidnapping her?? Why isn't she here? Why can't I see her? Why can't I hear her? WHERE IS SOPHIE?!?!?!?! What is the emergency number?! Someone please help!!! Anyone!!!! Help me!!!! She's gone, what do I do? Do I start running and just leave all of our stuff behind?? I don't know anyone, I don't know what to do... Please help! .......All of these thoughts are rushing through my mind, and I'm sure I was screaming them as well (I know I was screaming). 

Have you ever felt so helpless because you are in a foreign country, you can't speak the language, a lot of people don't speak your language, something just happened to the only person you are traveling with, you don't even know what the nearest town is, let alone which town you are in, you don't know the emergency number, and you just want to sit there and cry and your mom will be there when you open your eyes......... 

..... yeah..... Everything happened so quickly.. I have never been so scared in my life because all my worst fears of traveling were happening (possibly, I still haven't seen/heard Sophie) for a second I had myself convinced that Sophie was actually gone. What do I tell her parents? HOW do I tell her parents? How soon can my parents get to France??? 

Back to the story....... (I may or may not be crying writing this...... I felt helpless.) 

A woman from the train calms me down and is calling the police (not that they will come but just to notify them) and they held the train for us to get back on to continue to our destination. I don't know what we would have done if they wouldn't have waited for us. I see Sophie finally and I tell her to run back to the train... run back to me! She didn't have any tears (pretty proud). We get on the train and it starts back up again. 

Yeah, looking back it was just a phone but the information we needed to get to our next place and other uses of it was needed. So on the train this nice guy lends us his phonee to get Mamie's address in Aix. Mamie is Sophie's friend that we are going to go stay with in Aix En Provence. Ok, ok... so we made it. We ask the lady at the train station how to get to this address where Mamie is at. She doesn't know. Ok, well could you direct us to the place where the main square is at? I don't know.... 

Ok you are great help, thanks.. some people don't get two shits about you.... So when this teenage girl with her mom tells us she will put in her iphone for us we were grateful. They understood where it was at and then explained to us where to go. We listened and then were like... ok so we do what?? (We were a little cloudy minded after what had just happened. They could tell and asked us if we were ok, so we had to tell them the story) After we still couldn't figure out where we were going they told us if we waited 5 minutes that they would give us a ride. 

HA! After what just happened with me thinking Sophie was almost kidnapped and yes I've seen the movie Taken..... After all I have heard about getting in cars in foreign countries with strangers and all the bad things that could happen...Do you really think I would get in that car???

....So we took the ride.......

Something about them wanting to help us and the mom with her teenage daughter making me feel warm and cared about somehow. I wanted to cry. Ok, so maybe I did cry. Thank you. 

They seemed like honest, great people. After what just happened on the train and then getting in the station and the lady working not offering her help... this is what we needed. Not all people are bad. Although in situations like we had been in I wanted to think so. Bad thoughts! 

It was raining. I am on crutches with a huge backpack with no idea in hell where to go. So thank you thank you! They didn't just take us into town... they parked and walked us exactly to the door to make sure we were OK. Wow! So nice...... so grateful.... Thank you Juilette from France :)

We get to Mamie's. And breathe. 

We are safe and can just think clear for a moment. That night we chilled at her apartment and then went out for one of her friends birthday dinner. I don't know if I explained who Mamie is. Mamie is from Alabama and is a sorority sister to Sophie at the University of Alabama. She was also studying abroad (in Aix En Provence) and had a lot of other American friends who were also studying there a semester. 

Back to the French food...

I couldn't read a thing on the menu. I chose pasta to keep it safe and cheap. 10 euros was the cheapest thing on the menu. So the girl next to me ordered the most "French" thing... but I may have to get back to you on the name of it....... 

It was raw ground beef with a raw egg on top. They brought it to our table and then if she wanted mustard and spices he mixed it all together right there.  So it was basically like making meatloaf in front of us. After he was done mixing it all together he made it into a patty and it is served exactly like that-----raw. Then he took a look at us and our faces might have been in awe or just disbelief. For the sake of our bellies and maybe our minds he wanted to sear the top for a second. And when I say second I mean a few seconds, but not a minute. 

This girl ate this whole thing raw. I was so proud of her! Now, as you know I have been trying to try new things. I did try it, but have to admit I took more of the seared edge than the raw red meat. 

Our waiter mixing it up at our table. 

The finished product. I should have cut it in the middle to show you the inside. I hope you can kind of assume or just understand that it was raw. 

 Some other dishes at our table. What do you think??? We gave the seafood salad one the best dressed. 

We also had a nice beer that you can kind of see in the right of the picture above. It had a peachy flavor. It was really good but pricey with each glass being 7.40 euros. 10 dollars a beer. Yikes. You can see why it wasn't very often that I ordered them. Only when they were really needed. And trust me..... it was REALLY needed. 

After dinner we went back Mamie's for some sleep. I had a very odd dream about my grandma Marilyn that night. I'll share because most of you reading this knew her, and I always think dreams mean something..

Dream:

I was studying abroad and my parents called to tell me that she had died. My grandma Marilyn. I was so upset and couldn't remember the last time I had talked to her.. and why hadn't I been talking to her the whole time I had been gone?? I didn't know if I got to go back for the funeral or how that was going to all work out. I woke up and was feeling a "wow" feeling. I needed to get ahold of my parents to make sure that everything was alright and that my grandma was ok. Then I realized that my grandma had passed away 7 years ago. It wasn't that I had ignored her while being gone. She's just been gone awhile. Just thought it was her little sign to let me know that she is watching down on me and that she is keeping me safe. I liked that. 

So we slept pretty late that when we got up it was time to go get lunch. We had steak frites! They were soo good!! 

So what this is is a French baguette with onions, lettuce, hamburger, ketchup (a hamburger basically!) with french fries on top! You eat it like a giant sandwich. My goodness. 
Who is going to try this now???? :)) I think you all should! They were fun. 

We wondered around Aix and went to the police station to have the phone reported. They said that we most likely (or definitely) won't get the phone back, but that train has been having a lot of stolen phones lately and are wondering if it is the same group of kids every time. Maybe they have caught them now? ;)

This town is beautiful. Just walking around is great. 

Later that day we made pasta for dinner in Mamie's apartment and Jess finally arrived!!!! Now there are 3 of us! The power of numbers is making me feel better already! 

We went out for the same girl's birthday to a bar where Tuesday nights girls get free champagne.  Now why isn't this a thing in the US?!?!

This morning we got up and headed to the bus station. Our bus leaves in 15-20 minutes. So we have time to find the exact leaving spot. 

Jess takes another look at the ticket... OMG guys this is the train that we are supposed to get on.. NOT A BUS!!! 

Sophie!!! They lady told me that we were first getting on a bus and then on a train!! 

No!!! She probably meant the bus to get to the train station (because it was about 15-20 minutes away from the city center)

PANIC!!!!!

We are never going to get there in time... we need a taxi!!! All three of us running in separate directions frantically looking for anything that would get us to the train station ASAP. 

Ask someone where all the taxis are... Oh they are in the city center about a ten minute walk that way......

UMMMM... we don't have 10 minutes. Our train leaves in 15!!!!! 

When in all this rush God looks down and decides to have a little taxi man pass us. We fling our arms all over the air. I about just threw my crutch at the car like a dart. 

He stops and lets us in. We scream at him the train station... hurry!!! We have a train to catch in 15 minutes. 

Ladies.... don't worry. I am the best taxi driver (and then he steps on it). I didn't really have time for my fear of cars to kick in. Not only did he go quite fast to get us there he looked up on his smart phone which platform our train was leaving from. Definitely against our texting and driving laws!! I about died just from thinking about the car wreck that was going to kill me... surprisingly we didn't crash. 

He gets us there in time. And by in time I mean not passed the time that our train was supposed to leave. We get out of the taxi with 3 minutes until our train leaves... 

(so trains usually get there a bit early so people can board and then takes off... so this 3 minutes is literally 3 minutes or less. Our plan with me on crutches is just someone get there and ask if they can wait for their disabled friend who is moving as fast as she can!) 

Thank you God for sending not only us a taxi that we desperately needed, but a man who spoke the best English I had heard since I had left England. Wowzer......

We get to our platform.... and our train is delayed 5 minutes. We stand there panting and people looking at us like what???? 

Each running experience we have I keep telling myself that this must be the last one. We have to learn our lesson by now. We will be extra careful by giving ourselves extra time and checking the tickets twice...... Well, I will now say.. next time it will be different. We will do everything right. 

We are on our train to Italy now. And wow. The most amazing train ride of my life. It was the coast line. Sea and France the entire time. The most beautiful sight I have ever seen. 

I want to say--"hope Italy is better"--a new start, but I am not even going to go there. Now my money belt Christmas present isn't dorky. I will wear it the rest of the time. Everyday. Everywhere. Ahhh England, I do miss you. But not only am I starting to miss the security of England... It is my first actual missing of Logan/Iowa City and all my small town safety. 

Did I mention that right before Sophie's phone was stolen we were making a "backpackers tip list" HAHA! Oh, we have had issues that I will have the best advice to give. So far i'll put our rank as the WORST BACKPACKERS... stay tuned to find out if we turned our trip around! :)