Roma

On March 2nd we took a day trip to Rome. We took a train from Santa Maria Novella to Roma Termini. The train is easy to use and I suggest to book in advance online. The earlier you book, the cheaper it is. So for my ride there I actually booked a 1st class ticket. Not really on purpose I just chose the cheapest tickets and 1st class happened to be the same price as a 2nd class seat, so I figured why not? In 1st class you just are able to get one free drink and a snack so I got peach juice and cookies. Upon arrival in Rome we were on a mission. There was a lot to see and we had an appointment to see the catacombs to go to. We started out by taking the metro to the Spanish steps. (The Metro is a cheap and easy way to get around) We then walked to the Trevi Fountain and took our pictures making our wishes. After the fountain we made our way to the Pantheon. The funny thing about places in Europe is that it is like living in a museum. All of the places that you learn about are all right here. It just creeps up on you. You are walking down a side street then BAM hey there Pantheon, or BAM hey look its the Trevi Fountain. Next had just enough time to get to the Vatican in order to go on our tour of the catacombs. We wrongly thought we could walk there so we almost missed our tour, but thankfully the people in charge were able to change our appointment. With our extra time, we went to the Coliseum and took a lot of pictures. Right when we got to the Coliseum the sky got so clear and blue and the sun was shining. After taking some pics we gave ourselves plenty of time to take the metro to the Vatican. Saint Peter's Square was so nice. St. Peter's basilica is massive and beautiful. It was also especially awesome to be there since the pope had resigned only a few days before. Finding the entrance to the catacombs was a little difficult because the entrance was outside of St. Peter's square. The catacombs tour was really interesting though. We were underground in very small and humid corridors and rooms.   It was crazy that they found all of the graves by accident! After the tour was over, we  got to go into St. Peter's basilica. It is overwhelming in there. It is even more massive from the inside and it is so intricately decorated. Of course 2 of the more famous works displayed in there are the Pieta and the Baldacchino. After leaving St. Peter's we got some gelato and chilled out and made our way back to the train station and came home. I would say in order to see everything you may need 2 days.  

Monaco and the French Riviera

On March 9th at 530am we were off to the bus taking us on our school run trip to Monaco and the French Riviera. Thankfully the bus ride to our first stop of Monaco was only a 4 hour trip unlike our previous 13 hour trips to Austria and Prague. After sleeping on the bus (and on the random kid i sat next to) we arrived in Monaco. Although the weather wasn't so hot, you could still see the beauty in on of the smallest countries in the world. We were met there by our tour guide. She sure did brighten up the mood on the bus. "Ladies and Gentlemen, coucou! My name is Constance and I am 54 years old, I have a daughter, she is 20 years old. I have a dog who is four, and two hamsters." Yes, this was her introduction to all of us. So after a short tour in the rain of Monaco we were able to grab a quick lunch and souvenir shop before heading back on the bus to head to Montecarlo. Constance rode with us and of course entertained us with a combination of stories and facts about Monaco. When I say combination, I seriously mean it too, she would literally be in the middle of telling a story then stop to say something about Monaco and continue. For example "Yes so she met someone from Monaco and she got pregnant.....o and look at that, that is where Tina Turner lives....yea so then she had a daughter and she is a citizen of Monaco". Alllrrriiiighhhhytttttyyy theeennnnn. Anyways we got to Montecarlo and at this point it started to clear up. We walked up to where the casinos were, and of course I had to gamble just to say I did it. I put 5 euro in a slot machine and lost it all.....surprising! NOT. One kid on our trip actually won about 100 euro which was pretty awesome. After the casino it was back to the bus! Next stop Nice, France. We got to the hotel, checked in, missed our tour, roamed around, found the beach, got AMAZING crepes then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The school organized the dinner which was really good. It included salad, a chicken dish, french fries and dessert. After dinner we decided to walk around a bit more and my friend and I decided to get a second dessert because we just couldn't resist how good they looked! We headed back to the hotel after that and went to bed so we would be ready to leave at 8am the next morning after we ate breakfast. Breakfast was a little sad, but it is the European way to not have a big breakfast. Our next stop was St. Paul. St. Paul was breathtaking. The views were amazing and the town was so cute and quaint. After a small abount of time there we left for Cannes. Cannes was my favorite place that we visited. It was warm and sunny, right on the beach, there was a harbor. Basically just amazing. We walked around and found a cute place to get a bite to eat. I got a ham and cheese with a strawberry lemonade. We then headed to the outdoor flea market that occurs every sunday. We all got ourselves cute rings then made our way to where they host the Film festival in Cannes. We found our favorite actors and actresses handprints in the ground, got gelato and headed back to the bus. Just before we went on though, we convinced one of our friends to jump into the water. That was a great time. I would have done it, but I didn't want to be wet for the whole bus ride. I needed to be better prepared. I am going back in a month with Bus2Alps because I won a free trip there, so I can do it then! Our last stop of the weekend was in Eze where we visited Fragonard, a perfume factory. We took a quick tour, smelt different perfumes then had a chance to buy some. I bought a perfume and some soap. :) That concluded our trip so after that we headed home to Florence. I would highly recommend a trip to the French Riviera if it is possible in your travel plans!

Austria: Vienna and Salzburg

Ok so sorry for the delay but last weekend I went to Austria with Bus2Alps. It was a great trip although it was freezing cold. I would definitely suggest that if possible, go to Austria in the spring. The rolling hills covered in snow were beautiful, but when they are green and it is sunny it is probably even better. So in Vienna we stayed in A & O hostel. It was definitely not as nice as the hostel in Prague, but we dealt with it. They did have a really good breakfast though. The first day we were there we went on a walking tour of Vienna. The tour guide was very passionate and kept going on and on about stories, which would have been more interesting had it not been snowing. My friend and I ditched out on the last stop on the tour to go to Starbucks to warm up. (Starbucks was our meeting place after the tour, we weren't being really american). After we warmed up we went to a restaurant for late lunch/dinner which was really good....sorry i wish i remembered the name but it was in another language and we just were told the directions. Before we went back to the hostel we also got the Sacher Torte which is an unbelievable chocolate cake that Vienna is known for. We ate the whole thing when we got back to the hostel. That night we went to the Sound of Vienna concert. It was really awesome. There was a small orchestra who played Mozart and Strauss. They also had 2 ballet dancers (one guy and one girl) and 2 opera singers (one guy and one girl) who performed with them on certain songs. The next morning there was another walking tour of a cathedral which we decided to skip because we were too cold. Instead we slept in, got breakfast and waited for the bus to come to load up for our trip to Salzburg.

Now Salzburg was a whole other story. As you may or may not know, The Sound of Music was based upon and filmed a lot in Salzburg. Because of this, we had a  Sound of music themed part of our trip. On the bus ride from Vienna to Salzburg we watched the Sound of Music which was so awesome. When we got to the hostel, called YOHO, there were sound of music pictures everywhere and the wifi password was even soundofmusic, which pretty much made my day. This hostel was definitely nicer than the first which made us happier. They let us explore on our own for the day so we went out and about, went to a cafe and got some great cake, we went to Mozart's residence, Mozart's birthplace, we tried the Mozart chocolate and then met the group for a dinner at a beer hall. The dinner was really good I had ribs and a baked potato. It was a food court set up and u could just pick and chose what you wanted to buy. We stayed there til around 10 then headed back to sleep and get ready for the Sound of Music Tour in the morning. The Sound of Music Tour was absolutely amazing. If you couldn't already tell, I am slightly obsessed with the Sound of Music. We went to the 2 houses/palaces that they filmed at for the Von Trap houses, the lake that they fell into when they canoed, the gazebo, the path where Maria sings I have confidence, and we went to the cathedral where they had the wedding scene and we basically walked down the aisle that Julie Andrews did in the movie. I actually almost cried of excitement when I first saw the Von Trap house. It was amazing and I highly recommend doing the tour if you find your way to Austria. Austria was overall amazing and I am so glad that I went!