Come Travel With Me

Back to Canada :)

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:22:00 -0400

goodbye holland!

desperate housewives and dinner!

KLM always feeds me delicious things!

Hello Canada!

Reunited :)

family!

"dutch" girl ice cream cake :)

Back to Canada :)

Last day in Tilburg!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:42:06 -0400

Last day in Tilburg!

Final days in Tilburg!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:26:00 -0400

bike stop lights!

bike path :)

final dinner with the girls

biking :)

Last dinner with group 8!

Rupert and I at our final mentor dinner!

second place in photo contest :)

febo for krokettes #soyum

last verbs 70 night!

Final days in Tilburg!

Tilburg and Amsterdam :)

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:09:00 -0400

heineken experience!

heineken experience amsterdam!

market :)

verbs 28 :)

my room!

campus :)

commerce!

worldly travels!

kitchen

my room!

Tilburg and Amsterdam :)

lifeintilburg

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:37:44 -0400

Random Facts about Tilburg:

The toilets are much higher haha I guess because people in Holland are so tall?
Mail is delivered by bicycle
No water fountains
Very flat ground which is why biking is so popular, bike paths are everywhere and there is even an underground biking garage in the city center!
No bagels or English muffins
Dutch movies (with Dutch language) have both Dutch and English music
The university has no school spirit. There is no mascot and no one wears the university clothing (except me haha)
On average, people are much skinnier (which I have no idea why as they do not seem to eat that healthy…)
A lot of people smoke quite regularly
Seems that there is much less phone usage, people don’t really text at restaurants or on public transport
Lifestyle is way more laid back, barley any shops are open on Sunday and have limited hours throughout the week
Get paid to be on board associations for the university (like school committees)
NO ONE wears yoga or sweat pants to class (this was a very difficult change to get used to, I only wore sweat pants once but couldn’t give up wearing my lulus)
When applying for jobs, employers look at extra-curricular involvement first and then marks (different then typically what employers do in Canada)
Holland has the most country pride I have ever seen. You can get Holland apparel at any time in so many stores and for holidays people (of all ages) get so into it
They have sales at the grocery store of literally 2-3 cents off haha
At Albert Heijn (grocery store) you get a bonus card but when you use it you are only receiving the bonus aka sale price and not any additional bonus (aka you pay full price for all things on sale if you don’t use your bonus card)
Lots of themes at Albert Heijn where they will give something if you purchase so much (points/stickers that go towards something else - example: Hamster week, Muppet week, collectible week)
Pay for water at basically every restaurant
You can pay extra to put an illegal 5^th person in a cab
Dutch boys where an excessive amount of hair gel - literally I feel like if I put ran my hand through their hair it would be so sticky after (Yuck)
Holland has 16.5 million people and 18 million bikes

Things I miss about Tilburg:

#1 by far = the people
Biking!! (especially biking home from the bar, best experience ever)
Saturday markets
New countries every weekend
Albert Heijn
Hearing Dutch all the time (Alstublieft, Tot Ziens!, Dankjewel!)
Poffertjes, Stroop Waffels and Euro Shopper
Verbs life

Tot Ziens! :)

lifeintilburg

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:17:00 -0400

Hello Friends!

Well I am home now and have failed at following up/closing off my European adventure haha but anyways, better late than never I suppose? Anyways I ended my last entry with talking about the possibility of writing this next entry in dutch since I still had to do my Dutch exam however unfortunately that is not possible. To add a bit of Holland flair maybe I will randomly add Dutch words haha on a positive note though I did pass my Dutch course! And actually all courses :) So exciting!

Alright so rewinding until before my exam (will do my best to remember accurately) – During my last two weeks in Tilburg I did some studying but found time to visit Amsterdam for the third time (funny thing, when I went the first time I told myself I wouldn’t be back again since I had already seen it…apparently that wasn’t the case) anyways so I went back to Amsterdam and met up with Brad, my friend from home who I grew up with! He was on a trip through Europe so we decided to spend the day together and go to the Heineken Experience. I would definitely recommend it, it was so much fun! Fast Fact about Heineken: it’s made with 95% water, hops, barley and A yeast! We also got to be “brewed” it was a video simulation thing, it was so cool haha

I also went to Kandinskys, a beer place in Tilburg (yes I drink beer now, one of the many accomplishments of exchange) and it has over 300 types of beer! It was so wonderful; I had peach and cherry beer. #soyum Other than that, I did a lot of things just around Tilburg, did a lot of shopping, which I justified by telling myself that since I didn’t have time to visit a 10^th country I could then use all the travel money haha and that is exactly what I did…so much so that when I went to the airport my luggage weighed too much – the attendants solution was to put the extra weight into my carry on. I don’t get it, either way it’s going on the plane, why does it matter what suitcase it’s in? haha

Also during my last couple weeks we had multiple picnics outside of all the exchange buildings which was so nice since it was so sunny and not rainy for once! I also had one last market day of fresh stroop waffles, sampling all the dips with fresh bread and buying lots of delicious fruits and veggies! We also had one last party at Verbs 70 which was so sad but a lot of fun. The girls and I ended my last night with a slumber party and then after a poffertjes breakfast then next morning I left for Amsterdam.

Luckily I have now learnt how the train station works in Holland so I was able to get there with no problem and even had a friend from Tilburg Uni also flying back on my flight! After an enjoyable 7 hour flight with KLM (unreal food and great entertainment, they never disappoint) I arrived in Canada! Expecting to leave the gate to just find my parents and Jordan but instead my parents, grandparents, Jordan and his parents as well as my Aunt were all there to welcome me home! With a giant pink sign and flowers :) They also got a limo and once I returned home they had a lovely welcome home display! Karrie and her boyfriend Phil were over and they got me an ice cream cake with a picture of a dutch girl on it haha it was so cute and delicious!

The following day I hung out with my best friends, so nice to be reunited again! The following day I started my internship at RIM in Corporate Philanthropy! I will be there for 11 months (instead of going back for 4^th year) and love it so far. The people are great and the job is fabulous, I have already learnt so much!

But anyways, that about wraps up my European adventure, I am so sad it is over but feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to go on exchange. I travelled to a total of 9 countries and approximately 25 cities. I saw and experienced things that I never would have had the chance to had I studied strictly within national borders. I strongly encourage studying abroad and would say it is the best university experience I have had so far. The people, the places, the experience was amazing.

Carpe Diem Everyone, until next time.

Cheers from Canada! (seems weird saying Canada…)

PS. I will revisit and continue this blog during my next adventure…which I am hoping will be soon as I have caught the travel bug haha…Asia next?

lifeineurope

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:51:00 -0400

Previously I listed the order of my favourite cities - I have done a bit more travelling now so here is an updated version :)

1) Florence, Italy
2) London, England
3) Paris, France
4) Rome, Italy
5) Prague, Czech Republic
6) Budapest, Hungary
7) Siena, Italy
8) Amsterdam, Netherlands
9) Berlin, Germany
10) Vatican City (really a country but it is as small as a city…)
11) Antwerp, Belgium
12) Brussels, Belgium
13) Pisa, Italy
14) Volendam, Netherlands
15) Utrecht, Netherlands

I have also been to Lisse, Venlo, Eindhoven and s’Hertogenbosh in Holland as well as Oranienburg in Germany but did not see enough of those cities to make a fair judgement :) And of course, Tilburg is my favourite city of all – but I may be a little bit biased ;)

Final Gala :)

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:39:00 -0400

VERBS!

Final Gala :)

Queens Night Queens DayCarpe Diem :)

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:33:00 -0400

yay holland!

queens day

Tilburg Sings

Keeping it classy, drinking on the train

train station

eindhovennnnn

:)

Queens Night

Queens Day

Carpe Diem :)

Hippie PartyABC PartyInternational Dinner - ChinaBeer...

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:21:00 -0400

dinner at verbs 70

meatball making!

yum!

GG's surprise birthday dinner

CANTUS

CANTUS

Hippie Night

International Dinner - China

ABC party

ABC party

Hippie Party
ABC Party
International Dinner - China
Beer Cantus
Meatball making :)

lifeintilburg

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:15:00 -0400

Hello Friends!

To continue from my last entry, at the end of April we had a tropical foam party – I had never been to a foam party before but I can honestly say, I would definitely do it again but recommend not wearing flip flops (they will fall off and get lost in the foam) and be prepared for your legs to itch for days after(definitely worth it though!!). I also saw Titanic 3D at Pathe, an English theatre in the city centre. Movie’s here are a bit more expensive then home and you get assigned seating when you buy your ticket which is a bit weird. There is a “VIP” section at the top with more space and tables. You also cannot get additional butter on your popcorn haha or any type of seasoning!

On April 29^th and 30^th we celebrated Queens Night and Day which is quite huge in Holland. Queen’s night included Tilburg Sings, in the city centre, which is basically a Dutch Cantus aka an organized sing-a-long. It was about 50% dutch song and 50% English so I was able to sing along/attempt to sing along to the Dutch one’s haha –Queen’s day is to celebrate our Queen’s birthday (not the current Queen, her birthday is in January I believe) but our former. Everyone dresses up in orange and other patriotic things – we wore the Holland flag as dresses (see photos!) –I should also make a note that this country has way more national pride then school/university pride. Honestly, you never see anyone supporting/cheering for the school or wearing the school colours/apparel. But when it comes time for Queen’s day or Carnival the country goes wild! It’s amazing, I just love it! So for Queen’s day we went to Eindhoven, it was so busy, the trains were packed and flooded with orange and alcohol. We then basically just partied all day in the streets amongst all the other festive people!

At the beginning of May we had a Verbs Beer Cantus, as you may know, a beer cantus is basically organized drinking with a sing-a-long – You get a song book and you sing one song and then you sing Trink Trink Breuderlein Trink after each song and at the end of that song you chug your beer but you are only allowed to drink after you sing that song and cannot drink until the next time it is played. If you do not abide by the rules you get punished aka having to drink your beer out of a shoe, through a sock etc. Needless to say I always ensure I follow the rules!! We had the cantus right outside of Verbs (the exchange student apartments, 5 buildings basically all for exchange students) hence why it was the “Verbs” beer cantus.

Later in May we had Hippie Night theme mentor dinner. This was a rather difficult theme as I really do not own anything “hippieish” and cannot say I like the style so I was not willing to go out and buy anything aka my costume wasn’t very good but it was a fun night! A really good dinner, a mix of Brazilian, French and Turkish cuisine (haha I know, quite a random mix, our mentor group is very cultured) – also a fabulous night at Carpe Diem, the last official one of the semester as the following week I had to miss White Party to study #priorities

Also in May we had a few special dinners, we had a surprise birthday dinner for GG (one of my good friends from Argentina) at Havana in the city centre. Dinner was delicious except for the fact that we received one free jug of water and after that we started being charged as our waiter neglected to tell us that we only get one free pitcher… We also learned how to make meatballs thanks to Alessio, our friend from Pisa, Italy –oh and I should specify that we did not just learn how to make any meatballs, no, we learned how to make thee most AMAZING meatballs ever #soyum!! We also had a nice dinner with Verbs 70, Krystal’s (good friend from Canada) flat – her mom was visiting and they made us all a really nice dinner! We had another International Dinner, China themed. It was phenomenal, I normally do not like spring rolls but they did something different and made the best spring rolls ever!

This past weekend we had the final gala. Honestly, I cannot believe it already happened – on our first day (January 14^th) I*ESN (our exchange student network that organizes literally all our fun activities) handed us an activities calendar for all 5 months. I remember looking over it and was like wow, final gala that is going to be such a sad day but it is in such a long time…and now it is already over! :( However, the night was amazing – the girls and I had a nice dinner before, made cocktails and then took lots of photos outside (it felt like prom all over again minus the extreme fanciness) We then went to a place which I cannot remember the name, to have a dance/awards etc – It was a lot of fun and the champagne was fabulous!

Oh also, the one thing I won’t miss about Tilburg/Holland = the excessive amount of rain. Honestly, it didn’t rain as much as I originally expected until these last few weeks which it has rained almost every day! On a positive note, the rain makes studying not as bad!

I think that about sums up my past month – lots of fun things and more to come during my last 2 weeks in Tilburg especially since I only have one more exam :) And who knows, after all this Dutch studying maybe I’ll even write my next entry in Dutch! (unlikely though…)

Cheers from Tilburg!

Venlo - FloriadeLisse - KeukenhofAmsterdam :)

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:25:00 -0400

Keukenhof

Floriade - Country Display

Floriade

Seize the day!

tattoo :)

dutch <3

Keukenhof

Keukenhof

Keukenhof

Beautiful!

Venlo - Floriade

Lisse - Keukenhof

Amsterdam :)

Lifeinlisse,amsterdam&venlo

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:18:32 -0400

Hello Friends!

Well it has been a bit since my last post as I have been busy being very studious preparing for all my finals! I have completed 3 so far, comparative management, strategic management and the morality of commercial life aka philosophy aka not so much fun. Such a relief to be finished with 3, I just have dutch written and oral left then I’m finished and its home to Canada! I have mixed feelings, I go home in 12 days and ahh I just love it here! Anyway, I have been doing things besides studying like…

I took a trip to Venlo in Holland to go to the Floriade World Horticultural Expo – It was okay, nothing like I thought. I was under the impression it was going to be amazing as CNN recommends it and it only happens once every 10 years. My overall thought: it’s ideal for the age of 40 and up. I didn’t make the connection that since it is a horticultural expo it would be more then just plants/flowers but also about gardening, farming, agriculture, sustainability etc which to me really isn’t that fascinating. It did have really unique displays for various countries such as China (see photo) but inside these displays were just products you could buy which I really wasn’t that interested in. Also, they had shows/performances which according to the website seem amazing but really they are quite a let-down. For instance, the “opening act” was simply 3 people dressed up and walking around on stilts…Overall I would rate it a 5 out of 10.

However, we then went to Keukenhof in Lisse near Amsterdam which is an expo of just flowers and it was amazing!! So incredible. Literally it was just flowers, flowers and more flowers everywhere you went. All colours, all types and different patterns. Nice ponds and water features with swans swimming around. They even had clogs and a huge windmill aka it was a very Dutch experience aka I LOVED it haha I really can’t say much more but I recommend you look at the photos - Overall I would rate it a 10 out of 10!

Earlier that day we spent some time in Amsterdam, bought some souvenirs (not like I need any more, I really do not know how I am going to bring everything home…) and the girls got matching tattoos, I did not partake in this cute exchange activity but did support them by holding their hands J I also had never been with anyone while they “got inked” haha so that was quite the exciting experience!

Onto Beer Cantus, Tilburg Sings, Queen’s Night, Queen’s Day, Hippie Night and Gala…

Rome, Italy :)Pantheon: the hole in the ceiling is actually a...

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:30:00 -0400

the best

overlooking roman forum

make a wish :)

looks 3D but it's not!

pantheon!

St. Peters Basilica

Sistine Chapel

nuns!

Trevi Fountain

Rome, Italy :)

Pantheon: the hole in the ceiling is actually a hole, when it rains it goes inside the building!

lifeinrome

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:25:01 -0400

Hello Friends!

So there has been a bit of a delay with finishing my posts about Italy haha but I can honestly say I have been fairly busy with academic work…for once haha it’s May now so I figured now would be a good time to start…of course I also was busy celebrating QUEEN’S DAY! But I will save that for another post– I also must mention that yesterday marked my one month till home #mixed feelings, I want to go home to see everyone but I think I’d prefer to go home for a week then come back and do it all again haha

Anyways to Rome! Wednesday night we travelled to Rome by train from Florence (45 euros and only takes about 1.5 hours) – we went to our hostel to check in, there was 5 of us and we had purchased a 6 bed dorm room (as rome hostels are so expensive and book up so far in advanced!) and we just figured the 6^th person would probably just be another student…WRONG. Not only was he not a student but he was a 50+ ex-convict. Yes that’s right, an ex-convict. I actually thought I was going to die when he told us this. It went a little something like this… “oh yes, while I spent some time in jail I read silence of the lambs” I’m thinking like wait now, let’s back up, jail?! Get out of here! So obviously in this type of situation you can’t ask why he was in jail in the first place so it left me to wonder all night long as I lie in bed (in straight view of this ex-con) why he was there, was he going to kill me? Aka I couldn’t sleep and at 2:30 am went to the lounge, sat there till 5 am trying to make myself tired enough to go back to bed and fall asleep right away. He ended up coming to the lounge at which point I ran back into the room and tried to get back to sleep before he came back again haha #hostelproblems #studentliving

The next day we did a 5 hour walking tour of “the ancient city” in which we got to see the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, the Roman forum, the Spanish steps and places where old Gladiator schools used to be located. We learned about Roman history, much which was beyond me as I have never learned anything about it before – it was still really interesting though! Also, apparently to be able to be a Gladiator now (aka stand outside the Coliseum dressed up and get photos with people) you need like special certification haha it is illegal otherwise! We also stopped for thee best gelato along the way (see photo – if you travel to Rome you must go there, this was the best gelato I have had, which says a lot considering I had it probably over 10 times over the course of the week haha) We also saw this one set of ruins that is now a home to stray cats with over 100 living in this one small area… Going back to our ex-con roomie, he pulls out a bag and is like do you like it?! I bought it for my cat…he also had a tattoo of his cat on his arm – Interesting fella – after the walking tour we went shopping – here is a warning: be careful at shops in Italy – they double charged me for my 2 tops, they knew about it too as I asked for the declined receipt that indicated my pin was invalid and they pretended they didn’t know what I was talking about…they have no phone number/website/email on the internet or on the receipt – I am assuming they do this all the time aka shop with caution :) Later that day we visited the Trevi Fountain where I obviously made a wish (I felt like I was in the Lizzie McGuire movie haha – although I unfortunately didn’t become famous…) and we also saw a proposal! It was so cute (in case my future husband will read this someday – a word of advice: I don’t want to be proposed to in front of a group of people). Later that night we went to a pub crawl where we taught all of the international students Flip Cup haha they were actually so bad it was kind of funny. Oh! And I had my first jagger shot =yuck.

Next day, we went to Vatican City which is actually its own country? Who knew! It’s the world’s smallest state, only 0.2 square miles with a population of 770, none of whom live there permanently. We paid for the 30 euro Vatican tour which to me was not worth it. I thought it would be of St. Peters basilica and more to do with the Pope but it was of the Vatican museum aka art, art and more art. It was beneficial in the sense that if I had walked through it on my own I would have gained nothing from looking at each piece but the bit of knowledge I did gain wasn’t worth 30 euros (the art was very beautiful though). We then went into the Sistine chapel which was nice but really not that wonderful compared to some of the other religious places I have been to and it was very, very crowded. You also are not allowed to take photos - the Japanese were granted the rights to own/sell all photographs of the chapel because they are responsible for maintaining Michael Angelos’ paintings. They actually left a spot that they didn’t clean to show what would happen if they weren’t to regular maintain it and it was just a black square! We then toured St. Peters basilica, went to a very small market which wasn’t very good compared to Pisa and Florence and then had a really nice Italian dinner which pretty much ended our Italian experience as after that we ventured back to the hostel and the next day we flew back to Tilburg.

Random Facts about Rome:
- about Italy in general: in basically every restaurant they would bring out all our food at different times…I guess they assumed we didn’t want to eat it together?
- There are service charges basically everywhere that you actually sit down
- Despite the fact that you can drink the tap water (except in Florence), you normally can’t order tap water… this is the same as in Tilburg
- the job of painting the Sistine Chapel was given to Michael Angelo as other artists recommended him thinking he would fail (as he normally works with just sculpting) and they thought this would make him less full of himself haha but that ended up not working as after 4 years of working on it he had produced one of the greatest pieces of art and the other artists were all very jealous
- lots of art in the Vatican museum looked 3D but it was actually flat! (See photo)
- a lot more homeless people than any of the other cities we visited in Italy
- more forward boys, you literally cannot walk by them without them trying to talk to you

Cheers from Tilburg!

Siena Italy :)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:02:00 -0400

Piazza del Campo - horse races

Piazza del Campo

Siena Cathedral/Duomo 2

Pesto Pasta

Beautiful Siena

Siena Italy :)

lifeinsiena

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:57:00 -0400

Hello Friends!

On Wednesday morning we headed for Siena by bus (about an hour and a half away, return trip for 15 euros). I like going to different cities by bus as it allows you to see many beautiful things along the way! When we first got off the bus it was raining (as it said it would) however, my co-traveller Helen did a rain dance in the morning before we left and therefore we were all convinced the rain wouldn’t last! We headed for a cafe to get a pastry and warm drink as we waited for the rain to pass. Once we had finished the rain still hadn’t stopped and at that point it had started thundering. Being the keen travellers we are, we were still determined to see all that Siena had to offer. We ventured for the nearest tourism place to pick up a map and start planning the spots we wanted to see.

To be honest, I really didn’t know much about Siena prior to visiting besides the fact that it was beautiful and therefore we didn’t really have a plan of what we wanted to see. We walked into a fabulous square called Piazza del Campo, where horse racing used to take place (see photo, thanks to google images)! Within the square there were many restaurants, a lovely clock tower called Mangia Tower (more than 290 feet high and built in 1325!!), and a wishing fountain! After making a wish we continued to explore the city, tightly grasping our umbrellas and splashing through the puddles since our feet were already soaking. We did some shopping and noticed the large number of Italian food speciality shops that Siena has to offer. This was quite unique as we didn’t see any in Pisa or Florence. There also wasn’t much of a market whereas Pisa and Florence had very, very large markets. Early in the afternoon Helens rain dance worked and the rain went away and the sun came out!!

We then went to see the Siena Cathedral, also known as Duomo 2 (2^nd to the Duomo in Florence). It is a medieval church and was completed in 1263, beginning in 1215. It was beautiful however, no comparison to Duomo in Florence as it was much larger and much more extravagant. We continued to walk around, shopping and taking in the glorious views Siena has to offer and stopping to enjoy a lunch of pesto pasta with gelato for dessert in Piazza del Campo.

We then boarded the bus back to Florence, from Florence we trained to our last city…Roma!

Random Facts about Siena:
- medieval like feel to the city
- many, many speciality Italian food shops
- not as touristy as the other destinations (could be due to the weather)
- not many tourist attractions to see but the entire city was beautiful, a good day trip

Florence Italy :)

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:44:00 -0400

Oh hey there David

Best gelato in Florence

this store had about 50 types of gelato!

top of Giottos Campanille

view from the top

Ponte Vecchio

we love Davids butt!

Ponte Vecchio

Santa Maria del Fiore

Giottos Campanille = 414 steps!

Florence Italy :)

lifeinflorence

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:37:46 -0400

Leaving Pisa, we arrived in Florence on Monday night. After venturing around, we finally found our hostel! They provided towels and candies on the pillows J It was so nice! Even had a TV which wasn’t really much good to us as it was all in Italian but still nice to see!

We started our day by venturing into the city center which was just a short walk from our hostel (Another major benefit of Italy is that you don’t need to use public transport to get around, everything is within walking distance, except for in Rome of course which is massive). We visited Piazza Di Duomo which is where we saw the Santa Maria del Fiore also called Duomo and Giottos Campanile tower. We didn’t go inside as the line was much too long (or shall I say the “que” was much too long as that is what they call them here haha) however, the outside in itself was stunningly beautiful, I took many photos of course but you really need to experience it yourself to understand how amazing it really is. We also saw the smaller Baptistry which is paneled by 12 golden plated scenes from the Bible (not the originals as those are in the Duomo museum – but still very beautiful!). We took some time to walk up the 414 steps to get to the top of the Campanile tower! The view was just unbelievable – it’s like what you see when you Google image “Florence” but even better. Everywhere in Italy looked exactly as I imagined which is surprising because many cities have beautiful parts to them which are the tourist areas and are the photos that Google images produces but the cities we visited (especially Siena and Florence) were not like that at all. The entire area was beautiful and looked exactly how I imagined it (colourful buildings and terracotta rooftops).

Throughout the day we continued to visit many different squares (called “piazzas”), stopping for gelato and pizza and visiting many of the Italian markets (I have become quite the barter, bought a large painting type poster for 5 euros, originally wanted 25 for it…). On our way to the Piazzale Michelangelo we visited Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge crossing over to where the square is. There is a beautiful canal surrounded by colourful architecture. On the bridge itself were so many jewellery stores, seriously, the entire bridge was just jewellery stores, it was very odd haha. After walking up many steps we finally arrived at the Piazzale Michelangelo and I must say it is definitely worth a visit – it gives an excellent panoramic view of Florence and has copies of Michelangelos sculptures (and arguably the best gelato in Florence J also Florence is Firenze in Italian!)

After visiting that square and many other important monuments we made our way back to the Galleria Dell’Accademia for the second time in that particular day to see if the line had gone down. We were in luck, we went 30 minutes before closing and it was perfect, no line whatsoever. Of course, if you are wanting to look at the whole museum 30 minutes is not nearly enough but we were really only concerned with seeing the Statue of David. Wow, just wow. I normally don’t like art museums as I don’t get much of the meaning behind art but this is most definitely worth seeing. It was so remarkable, quite large and made entirely out of marble. The detail was incredible; you could even see the veins and the muscles on the stomach! After seeing the statue we made our way to dinner where we came across our favorite waiter ever! (tied with the waiter I had in London England). He was so nice, telling us all about Florence and even showed us a photo of him with Jersey Shore as they visited the restaurant when they were filming in Florence! The food was fabulous and he even gave us free lemon shot sized drinks which were meant to be sipped not shotted (unfortunately, I would’ve preferred to shot it haha). We made our way back to the hostel for a relaxing night in as we were exhausted from being out in the city for just over 12 hours! Our original plan was to spend two days in Florence but since we were such keen travellers we saw all the attractions that we had planned to see so instead decide to take a bus to Siena the following day…

…To Siena!

- also should mention, Florence is my favourite city so far, Ill post a city ranking up date once I post entries about Siena and Roma :)

Random Facts about Florence:
- the same amount of markets as Pisa and the same degree of bartering power for the buyer
- be careful with “italian” leather bags as over 50% are made in China and many are made from product called “ecoleather” which produces the smell of real leather but will not wear the same as real
- you cannot drink the tap water - Florence & Venice are the only two cities in Italy that you shouldn’t be drinking the water (at first I thought the waited was lying but no, it is true haha) - Florence is the only city so far that I have visited in Europe (out of about 17) that I haven’t been able to drink the water
- do not make eye contact/talk to the people selling anything (especially posters) or they will not leave you alone

Pisa Italy :)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:14:00 -0400

lunch in pisa

#soyum

view at dinner #bliss

typical tourist

Pisa Italy :)