Amsterdam

Well yes Amsterdam was how I pictured it, probably any 20 year old guys fantacy if you know what I mean. The red light district is mainly what im talking about there are beautiful young prostitues lining all the windows of the streets, prostitution is completly leagal there. Amsterdam is all about bringing in money so anything that will generate money is okay. Which brings me to the part about how when someone thinks of Amsterdam they think pot, well its not actually legal, the police just pretend its not happening because it is the citys biggest source of income. All the cafes that sell pot are called "coffee shops" to disguise them from the police. The town itself is very cute, it has canals going all thoughout very similar to Venice. Something funny about the city is all the buildings are tilted forward, or crooked becasue they were built on mud and the city does not want to spend the money to fix it so they leave it. Just like any small european city bikes are the main form of transportation it is very easy to get hit my them because they drive fast and expect you to move out of their way. I dident get hit by one but a few people I know did! While there I visited the Ann Frank House, very sad it gave me the chills especially when I was in the part where Ann's family would hide out. I'm really glad I saw it, this along with everything I saw in the other citys about the Holocaust really makes me appreciate EVERYTHING about my life.

Berlin, Germany

I loved Berlin. Once again not what I expected but much more. Berlin is one of my favorite cities I have visited so far on my travels. I love everything about it, the crappy part is that I was in this city for the shortest amout of time. The city is very uniquie, it has a "punk rock" stye, something intersting I learned is that some night clubs or bars will not let you in if you dress too nice/facny!! I never heard such a thing. The funny part of this I learned while I was wearing a dress and heels sitting at a bar wondering why everyone looked so causual. Some places I visited were the Berlin Wall of course, and also another part of the Berlin wall called the east side gallery, which is the longest piece of the wall that is still standing. On it are many murals, a memorial of freedom. I also visited an art gallery called Tacheles which is not your tipical museum, it has alot of "street art" on the walls, and alot of unique paintings and statues. Worth seeing for the younger generation or if you would just like to see something different than your traditional art gallery. Cant leave this post without something about food right...Bratwursts are the best!!

Prague, Czech Republic

The first stop of my spring break was Prague. Befor going to Prague I knew nothing about it and had no idea what it was like. I will just tell the highlights of each of the countries I visited. During our tour I learned a lot about the city, but what really cought my attention was the Holocaust, and my appriciation for it grew in each of the cities. In Prague I visited the Jewish muesuem which displayed drawings done by Jewish children while they were at the concentration camps. Also at the muesuem is a memorial and you can see where the Jewish people were burried, they are burried in rows with 16 people stacked on top of each other and the ground it littered with tomb stones it was all heart breaking but really moving. It really makes me thankful for the life I have. On a happier note we had a traditional czech meal which was very different, not like anything I have had befor. The meal started off with a dark heavy beer and a hardy soup, next we had beef ( I think it was corn beef) it was in this orange flavored gravy and was served with an interesting bread, toped with an orange with whip cream...great for my figure I know! haha. For dessernt I had apple cobbler Yum. When I was not eating interesting food, or looking at the Jewish museum I just explored the city and went site seeing. Oh yes I also visited the John Lennon wall and sighned it. The wall was created during the communist rule, people would thoght of Lennon as their hero and would write his liyrics on the wall to express lack of freedom.... OFF TO BERLIN, CIAO

When in Rome

Updating you about Rome a little late, but a little late is better than never right? Rome was a busy quick trip. Much bigger city than Florence, its more city like but still has some cobble stone steets. We saw all the main attrictions; the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City, and the Colosseum. We had a tour of Vatican City which went by really fast considering it took a little over 3 hours to get through the entiere city. It is such an amazing beyond words on how beautiful it is and the talent that went into all the artwork. It was just as a I remembered and better. This time the colosseum was open so we were able to go inside and see what it looked like. Our last night we ate dinner like at this really good resturant called Le Lanterne I highly reccomend it if you ever go to Rome. We searched for nearly a 45 mins trying to find a place to eat that looked authentic and was not bothering us to come in. I had the gnocchi, and others had ravioli, and carbanara everything was made perfect! We each had dessert I had an apple crisp type thing served with gelato sooo good, and the other girls all had delicious desserts as well. To top it off after we were done the waiter brough us each a free glass of wine. We ended up staying for over 2 hours just relaxing and loving Italy. Best way to end our stay in Rome. (address to resturant via della pilotta, 21a 00187 Roma, phone number 0669924458)

Just another day in Italy

Today is only one of the best days of the year....WOMENS DAY! Yes can you believe it they actually have a day dedicated to women! So at many of the resturants they give the women flowers and discounts on their meals and whatever else they feel like doing. America should really get with it! Today was also the last day of Carnivale (its like pretty much the italian version of halloween except it lasts an entire month and they have carnivales in each city with huge floats and lots of convetti) I went to the one in Viareggio it was pretty cool, the floats were surprisingly really political they even had one making fun of the U.S. So anyway there were alot of people out today dressed up so it was a fun day. I dident dress up though...woops. I did have wine tasting/class tonight on chianti. Tasted a few wines and actually learned some new things about wine flavors that I dident know before. The tasting was undergound in this resturant pretty cool! I'm excited to do more, like in two weeks for my 21st birthday!! Okay well I really got to get back to studying I have two mid terms this week then I am off to Prauge, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. P.S. I will post my Rome trip up soon. Ciao

Siena and San Gimingano

Siena and San Gimingano are two beautiful citys just about 2 hours outside of Florence. The tiny little towns that over look Italys countryside. It was nice because it also reminded me a little bit of home like I was back in sonoma county for a second...just in case I was feeling a little home sick that cured it! Siena a little bit bigger than San Gimingano but still very small was kinda funny, they have a lot of pride in their town and make it very clear that they do not like Florence! The town is divided up into little areas called contradas and the people of their contrada are very loyal to it. The contradas are named after animals and bugs for example elephant or caterpiller. The people of Siena are not supposed to Marry outside of their contrada either however it does happen, also when the women have babys they normaly have them at their house to be sure that their baby is blessed into their contrada....I thought this was interesting and kinda funny because when your there you will be walking about 20 steps and all the sudden be in a differnt contrada and see their contrada flag and sign everywhere. San Gimingano is so small probably about a mile big I'd have to say, also a very quiet pieceful town not to many people there at all, but I really enjoyed the little town. We just got some gelato (sooo good) there are two places in the main square the #1 place was closed so we had to go to the second best but it was still amazing! then we just walked around town and relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the view. If you ever vist these places do them both in the same day because you do not need much time there, but way worth the visit! Ciao