Venice

After a wonderful couple days in Rome, Jannah made her way north to Venice, Italy. We boarded a water-bus that docked right outside our hostel, it was such a cool way to travel.

We were really hungry when we arrived, but all the stores were closed, however, we discovered this little pizza joint a couple doors down advertising "The Best Pizza in Venice." To say I was excited would be quite the understatement. Hannah and I walked into the restaurant with giant smiles on our faces that quickly turned upside down when we weren't even achknowledge after standing there for a couple minutes...literally. We gave our order to this doll of a lady who didn't even look at us while we ordered. We sat their patiently as our pizza baked which seemed like forever (maybe it was due to all that extra love that went into preparing it!) To top it all off, we ate that pizza, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the "best." Liars.

The next day, we went out to explore the city. We headed to St. Marco's Square which was surrounded by historical churches, an old palace, and many restaurants. Within the square were hundreds of pigeons that are completely unafraid of people. At first, this provided us with joyous entertainment. We would kneel down and place some potato chips at our feet just to watch the little birdies eat it all up. However, somewhere along the way, Hannah and I thought it was a good idea to start strategically placing crumbs on eachother without eachother's knowledge. Definitely funny when I did it to Hannah, I didn't think it was funny when it happened to me though.

The city is famous for its glass blowing, so there were numerous little boutiques filled with beatiful jewelry, statues, and other items complete made from colored glass. I'm pretty sure Hannah and I went into almost every one....twice.
That evening, we headed to the grocery store and purchased many snacks to last us for our trip. We covered pretty much every food group: gummy bears, cupcakes, sandwiches, gelato, and pizza flavored chips (not a fan). We were pretty tired from walking around all day, so we decided to have a stay-in night and just played some cards and listened to music. About an hour into our festivities, a lady walks into our room and lays in the bed next to our bunks carrying only a half full bottle of Fanta and a pouch with a Marijuana leaf on it. YAY, New Roommate!!!

Later that night, while everyone was asleep, I wake up to the most terrifying noise I have ever heard. I'm afraid of the dark as it is, so I was scared to open my eyes. However, upon closer listening I realized this sound was coming from the bunk directly beside me. It was that loony lady snoring. It sounded like the mix between a garbage disposal and an exorcism. I kicked Hannah's bed to see if she was hearing the sounds I did, and she was. Jannah assessed the situation and agreed to give her a few minute grace period, becuase there was no way in hell that that type of snoring could last too long. WRONG! I therefore decided there was only one thing to do and I gave that lady the loudest "shush" I had ever given. It was no use, it was like throwing a pebble into a river hoping it would slow it down. Luckily I found a cure for the noise, I had a water bottle by my bed that whenever I crinkled it, she would stop her snoring. That bottle became Jannah's lifeline.

Anyway, out this lady was bat s**t crazy. We would walk into our room and find her conversing with inanimate objects. She would be looking at a map, then look over at us and then break into hysterical laughter, and then to top it off, her snoring continued along with talking in her sleep. She would be snoring, and then out of nowhere "Ohh Nancy! hahaha" I didn't sleep that night. We were so happy when she left the next morning!

The next day, Hannah and I went out again into the city in search of some yummy Italian food! We stopped into this restaurant that had a pretty good crowd and looked really nice on the inside. We placed our orders, Ravioli and Spaghetti! We were psyched! When our food came out, we were in shock. It looked almost like they had opened a can of Spaghetti and poured it on my plate. We ate our 11 euro Spaghettios and left determined to redeem our unfortunate dinner choice.

While walking around Venice around dinner, we stumbled across this other restaurant that looked great! Luckily, it was! We both had lasagna, and it was amazing! Jannah was thrilled that we had finally found legitimate Italian cuisine. After the restaurant, we went touring the city again. Throughout the streets, there are purse vendors who sell bags at cheap rates. As we passed this particular display, I saw one that I thought was really cute! The man who owned the purses took notice of this and approached me.

Crazy Purse Man: You like this purse?
Me: I do, but I'm sorry I can't afford one. Thanks though!
Crazy Purse Man: Oh no, nice lady I make good price for you...35 euro.
Me: Oh no, really. I can't. Sorry.
[By this point, he is walking alongside us carrying the bag]
Crazy Purse Man: 20 euro for such a pretty lady?
[I was thinking about it....]
Me: No, I'm really sorry. No Thank you.
[He takes out a lighter, and holds it up to the purse and holds the flame next to the purse...]
Me: What the hell are you doing?! Why would I care if a purse was flame resistant??
Crazy Purse Man: 15 Euro for the nice lady [he puts it in a plastic sack and pushes it at me]
Me: No, you don't understand I don't want it!

I look up and the guy is gone! I hadn't even paid for the bag! As I'm frantically searching the crowded street, a policeman approaches me and just stares down at me and my bag. I started studdering, not knowing what to say! He took the bag out of my hand and walked away. A few minutes later, out of nowhere, the Crazy Purse Man approaches me and informs me that I not a nice or pretty lady afterall and that I lost a purse for him. Apparently they are selling purses illegally. I spent the rest of the day avoiding the purse vending posse

Earlier in the week, we had been informed about the volcanic eruption in Iceland that was effecting air travel. We were convinced that it would all be cleared out by the time it was ready for us to leave because there was no way that 6 days later that flights would still be down. Welp, wrong again. It still had the majority of European flights grounded. By this point in time Jannah was a bit concerned. We left for Milan that day hoping for this tiny hiccup in our travel plans would get sorted out.

On to Milan!

cheers!

Janie

When in Rome...

Jannah got into Italy on Monday, April 12. We caught a train from the airport to Termini Station which was right across the street from our Hostel setting us up for easy travels.

We were needing to pay for our hostel in cash, so we set out for an ATM. When we went to get some money out, we were informed that we had "Insufficient Funds." Cue: Panic Attack! We were in Rome, Italy with no food or money to even buy food, not even phones that worked.
We immediately set out to find an internet cafe. Hannah and I scrounged up enough change and each sent out multiple SOS's using every form of communication we could think of: Facebooked my little brother, my sister, my mom, Skype messaged my mom, and tried calling her at a pay phone while Hannah explained our dire situation to her parents.
We finally got ahold of our saving grace's, and we were back up and running.



We wasted little time getting on with our sight seeing. That day we were able to see the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Moro Fountain, the Fountain of Neptune and portions of the Roman Ruins. It was amazing! [Minus the fact that I totally forgot to throw change into the fountain of love...I now realize that I am doomed.]



Since Rome is such a walkable city, we worked up quite the appetite. Jannah was thrilled to find a pizza place that advertised a 45 cm pizza for €6!!! Due to our earlier bankruptcy, we hadn't eaten since France. We proudly hoisted the pizza as we marched through the train station.

Man 1: "Wow, you girls must be hungry!"
Man 2: "That sure is a lot of pizza you have there..."

Duh, we ate it all. I'm convinced it was the best pizza I had ever eaten.



Tuesday, we set off to see the rest of this historical city! We went to the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, more of the Roman Forum, and visited St. Peter's Square which is home to St. Peter's Basilica. (The Pope had actually held mass and given a speech about 2 hours earlier.) The dome on the church was designed by Michelangelo.
This church is one of the largest in the world and the interior is filled with the most beautiful works from the Renaissance time.




My favorite part was the famous statue, Pieta, by Michelangelo. It was absolutely brilliant. The central focal point of the church would be the Pope's Altar, built by Bernini. The bronze used to build the alter, was actually the bronze that was removed to create the hole in the ceiling in the Pantheon.


The church was beautiful, it was the prettiest church I had seen yet...until Wednesday when I would visit Vatican City =)

After our second day of gallivanting around Roma, we celebrated our accomplishments by visiting a small cafe down the street from our hostel. While sitting there, a man came up to us with pamphlets advertising a Pub Crawl. He was a huge fan of us once he found out we were American, and he cut Jannah a deal and discounted the price. Obviously it was a sign from the gods...

We went back to our hostel and got ready then headed out to the starting location of the pub crawl, this bar that was right down the street. We got there and received our free t-shirt and then made our way to the dance floor to meet the other people who were joining in on the night's festivities. Hannah and I were just having a good time, doin' our thang on the flo. (we were dancing).
After about 30 minutes, it became apparent that Jannah would, in fact, be the coolest person on this pub crawl. (not that we always aren't, but usually we have competition) We would be accompanied to 3 of Rome's pubs by the 25 most strange people I have ever met while being abroad. It was like watching Elaine from Seinfeld dance when they busted a move. It wasn't a pretty sight.
Later on at the second pub, we lost about 1/2 of the crowd due to the fact that they were 17. COOL! They were throwing up in the streets and walking like they had noodles for legs.

After separating the men from the boys, we carried on to pub #3! Upon entry, I heard some Justin Bieber blaring through the speakers, so I knew that this next stop was going to be awesome!! umm....WRONG!!!

It was minor night.....16 to enter. I felt like I was back at a middle school dance being a chaperon, except the kiddos thought that it was okay to hit on us. This kid, Chachi, kept on coming up to me and grabbing my arm to dance. He came up to below my shoulders and looked like a mini-Pauly D off of the Jersey Shore. Not kidding.
At this point, Hannah and I bailed ship (along with 1/2 of the party downstairs since their mommy's had come to pick them up) We called it a night and headed back to the Hostel, reviewing and laughing hysterically about the night of the 'Worst Pub Crawl of All Time.'

On our last day in Rome, we woke up and headed to the Vatican. On our way to the front door to the city, we were approached by this guy selling tours for it. He informed us that the tour would be €35 which would include entrance to the Vatican, a guided tour, a head set, and ability to jump the line.

Sales guy: "It was the best deal around!"

Sounded good to us, so we bought the tour.

Well upon entrance into the Vatican, we realized it would have only been €8 for us to enter the Vatican, head sets were free for students, and there was no line. SCAMMED!
Well we went on with the tour, and gained a lot of wonderful information. The Vatican was absolutely amazing. We saw Nero's bath, statues of Apollo and Hercules, works of Michelangelo and Raphael, "The Thinker" and much more. It was absolutely amazing.





The Sistene Chapel was magnificent. The colors were so vibrant and the details were exquisite. I could have stayed in there for hours and hours. It was my favorite church of my travels here. I was in awe over how talented these artists were and their dedication to such perfect work.

Sadly, Jannah had to cut the museum an bit short to head out and catch our flight. Rome was one of my favorite cities though. I loved how easy it was to walk everywhere and see all of the sights. It was filled with so much history, brilliant architecture, and so many beautiful things to see.

Well on to Venice!

cheers!

Janie

Nice? Niiiiiiice.

After Jannah's cozy night in the Paris Airport, we woke up to catch our early morning flight to Nice, France. I had heard some really nice things about the city! (Yeah, I know. The joke is probably wayyy overdone, but I like it.)

When booking the hostel for this trip, we were running low on funds so we went with the cheapest one we could find and paid absolutely no attention to the ratings. As as we walked into the "lobby" it became evident as to why this was true. Allow me to set the scene:

A "pink lady" dressed head to toe in various shades of pink, the smell of my grandma's basement, a yippy old dog tied to the leg of a table growling at us, a woman sitting at said table eating shrimp (with eyeballs in tact), and another old lady with a hunchback who delivered the food (because this little slice of heaven also served as a restaurant!)
Due to her frail state, she is only able to carry one plate at a time, and Throughout our stay, I found myself feeling sorry for her and helped carry out the food to cut down on her trips.

Well we paid our money, and the "Pink Lady" stuck the cash in the "waitress's" apron pocket and guided us to our room. On our ride up the elevator, it started sparking and Jannah had a minor panic attack while the "Pink Lady" proceeded to bang on it and curse in French. This totally helped settle our minds...We set our stuff in our room, and decided to head out to explore the nice city. (baha)

While walking through the streets, Hannah and I were venting on the previous half hour of our hostel experience and how amazingly creepy this place really was, when Hannah pointed out the fact that up ahead there was a man who literally had a grown cat perched on his shoulder. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen...well, next to the terrifying doll collection that the "Pink Lady" proudly displayed in the window of her restaurant.

From that point, Nice was 0-2, like Shaquille O'Neal at the free-throw line.

After our first day of exploring, we headed back to the hostel and ran into some guys that were staying in the room next to ours. They were from Texas and Georgia! Finally, some normal people! We all went out that night to a pub and polished off some liter beer, it was a good time. On the way back, I somehow got on one of my favorite topics of conversation, Chipotle, with the kid from Georgia, Daniel.
We went on and on about how "it's not just a burrito." Obviously, we were all hungry so we stopped into a late night sandwich shop and we all got something to eat. Upon finishing his food, Daniel made a drunken confession:

Daniel: "Ya know what Jane?" The whole time I was eating my sandwich, I actually was pretending that it was a steak burrito from Chipotle. Now, I don't miss it as much. You should try it.

Daniel's drunken honesty was probably the highlight of my night. (And no, it didn't work. In no way is a ham baguette even remotely comparable to Chipotle goodness.)

On Friday, Hannah and I went out again to walk around the city and see the [nude] beach. Us Kansas girls, get pretty damn excited about beach, even if 1/6 of the visitors were the last people you would ever want to see nakey. The beach was beautiful! Even though the water was cold, I wasted no time in getting in.
After our brief walk around, we headed to the train station to check out some other possible destinations and decided on Monaco, one of the smallest and the most rich country in the world.

Monaco was absolutely amazing! I have never seen so many yachts in a single harbor. They were everywhere. While walking around we spent a lot of time in front of Monte Carlo Casino which was surrounded by the absolute nicest cars, a BMW looked out of place in the valet parking lot. There was a beautiful garden out front equipped with the prettiest tulips of every color. Naturally, next door was a ridiculously priced restaurant, a Rolex store where

Jannah picked out our souvenirs and an gilato shop which was DELICIOUS.

On Saturday, we met up with Dan and Tim, a couple of our American friends from Uni, on their way through Nice. We took them to the beach and hung out for a couple hours before they had to catch their train. It was a nice relaxing day to soak up some Nice sun.

That night, Jannah went out and got a couple bottles of wine to enjoy while watching the waves crash on the shore. I guess we caught the attention of a few locals and they came over and started talking to us. They gave us a couple beers and we all just hung out for about an hour. One of the guys spoke quality English, and was convinced that we should date and that I should be his girlfriend haha I was not as keen to this idea and neither was Hannah. We decided it was time for us to go. We said our goodbye's and headed off towards our hostel.

However, when realizing that my NOT boyfriend was following us, we veered an opposite direction and into a hotel that was not ours. We walked through the lobby and towards the elevators, he also came in behind us. I assume he saw what button we pushed, because upon our elevator reaching the 4th floor of the hotel, he is standing on the 4th floor in front of the stair well.

Creepy English-speaking French guy: "Ha! I found you!"
Jannah: "AaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

We then took off running as fast as we could down the opposite hall. He didn't get the hint and he began to follow us laughing and giggling. We went to the front desk and explained our awkwardly horrifying experience to the woman at the front desk and she allowed us to hide out in the girl's bathroom. Problem solved. After those shenanigans, we decided to head back to the hostel for the night.

Sunday, we spent our last day relaxing. Hannah had another awesome encounter with the "Pink Lady" when she was in the shower. I guess Hannah thought she was me when the lady knocked on the door, and she gave her the "okay" to come in. The "Pink Lady" walks on in with the plumber on her heels. Hannah was in shock and I guess the "Pink Lady" could tell so she kindly offered Hannah an old shabby bed sheet to cover up with. Hannah awkwardly turned it down and came back into the room soaking wet with shampoo dripping down her face, she looked like a kitty that just got outta the shower. It was hilarious (for me, not so much her.)

Later on that night we met a guy from Colorado, Ben, who was just returning from a Kayaking trip and a nomad from Anywhere, America. He has been to over 70 countries and spends all his time traveling. We played cards and shared stories for about 4 hours straight. It was so much fun to hear about other people's adventures and share some of our own.

That is probably one of my favorite things about traveling, is the people that you meet. Even though you may have nothing in common, for those few hours it is as though you have been good friends for years. We spent the entire night making jokes at each other's expense and just being goofy. It was a great way to spend our last night in France.

The next day we packed up our stuff and headed for the airport where we would spend the night before our flight to Rome in the morning. I am convinced that they had the air conditioners on full blast and left the doors open. I have never been so cold whilst indoors in my life. Hannah and I were wearing almost every article of clothing in our back packs. I had on 1 pair of tights, 2 pairs of leggings, a skirt, tank top, long sleeve shirt, tshirt, and used 2 dresses as blankets. I skoped out a nice little doorway about 2 am that had a bit of wind blockage where Jannah set up camp. Finally, about 2:45 am after situating our sleeping situation (there may have been spooning involved and I might've been big spoon, SCORE!!!), we caught some sleep. We survived the night and woke up about 9:30 am to a line of about 5 people waiting at the ATM just staring at us. I half expected someone to throw some change our way.

"For just 80 cents a day, you could sponsor this child so that she doesn't have to spend the night in a damn airport."

It was miserable, but all we could do was laugh (and shiver).

ON TO ITALIA!!!

bon jour!

jane