Days 12 and 13 - Finishing Up London

Day 12

I can’t believe it’s over, but the tour was so much fun. And I suggest that if you have the ability to travel with a set tour it is much easier than trying to plan your own. They take care of transportation, food (all breakfasts and most dinners for me), and get you a fast pass into the places that you want to go. I definitely would not have been able to see everything that I did if I had tried to do this on my own.

We went to the Tower of London today. It didn’t live up to the excitement that the rest of my trip had been. But we walked around a bit, and eventually made our way over to see the crowned jewels. I don’t know what it was, maybe I was just overly tired, or had seen so many spectacular things in such a short time, but the jewels weren’t as breathtaking as I thought they were going to be. Don’t get me wrong, thinking about the crown jewels and the fact that people actually own those is amazing. But it just didn’t amaze me like everything else did.

Nothing too special today. Went out to an Italian restaurant that Mom wanted to go to, and the food was very good. And finally got back to the room to pack which was a nightmare. Found out that I was only allowed 1 checked bag when earlier I was told I would have two. And then I was running out of weight room to pack everything. It was a whole big stressful disaster. But everything is packed and ready to go. Or at least as ready as it’s going to get!

Day 13

 Went to Wimbledon today since Mom and Dad love tennis so much. Of course the train would break down and the doors wouldn't shut just at the moment that the downpour started. And of course the heavy rain would stop the moment the other train came by to pick us up. I blame Mom's bad luck... But anyways, I have to admit, it is pretty cool to be able to say I was there. It is a much smaller place than I was expecting. I guess with no one else being there, all the open space is deceiving.

Got to see the court where Isner and Nicolas Mahut played their 70-68 match. AAAAAAND I got to sit in the seat where Rafael Nadal would sit when he would get interviewed after a match <3 <3 <3 <3. After that we headed off to the airport to sleep over til my flight at 6:30am. The taxi driver was crazy and he was absolutely flying down the roads. But hey, it was exciting and he didn't crash.


Sleeping at the airport wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Carrying around my big winter coat helped a lot since it was a bit softer to sleep on than the plain floor. But just as I was laying down to try and sleep, the guy started to power wash the floor. Thanks a lot dude. Oh well, I got a few naps during that time. Then off to my gate, leaving Mom and Dad behind and off on my own to get through security with my suitcase, hand luggage, laptop, purse and 2 coats. Let me just say I still moved faster than some people only dealing with two bags. Puhlease...

Nothing spectacular during my layover. Though I was quite upset that I couldn't go shopping cause I couldn't leave my bags unattended and I got really tired carrying everything through the stores. God forbid I broke something, I would never hear the end of it from Mom. But I plan on stopping back in Poland some other time during my stay here, and hopefully see more of it than 
                                                     just the airport.

Day 11 - The Last Hoorah

Today was the last day of the tour :( but it was still very busy. We drove around and saw the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is the highest point in the city and can be seen from nearly every point. Then off to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, but we just watched the beginning of the process so we wouldn’t get caught gawking at the gates for an hour.

After that we went into inside the Queen’s Palace while she is off on holiday. We saw 5 coaches that the Queen and Royal Family used to get around, along with one of the Bentleys the family uses on less important travels. We were allowed to walk through 20 grand rooms (out of about 755) that the Queen uses for state occasions. It was utterly ridiculous what was in each room and the extravagance of everything. But we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so I apologize once more for that. Left: front view, Right: back view.

Unfortunately for our last dinner together, a few people were separated from the rest of us as we sat at the pub for a traditional British meal. With our tour director headed home, things weren’t as neat and organized as we had been used to all week. After dinner, we went for a short cruise along the River Thames to see the city from a different view. We passed under London Bridge (and yes, I did sing the song in my head), saw Big Ben again (left), the Eye of London (right) and some other neat buildings along the riverside.

All too quickly we were back at the hotel saying our final farewells to the group that we had traveled around with for the past 11 days. With wishes for safe travels exchanged, and good nights all around, so ended The Essentials of Europe tour.

Top left: Dad with Chris (left) and Brian (right)
Top right: Eustace and Shirley
Bottom left: Melissa, Sarah, and me
Bottom right: Me, Dad, Mom with Karen and Lex (our metro traveling group)

Ello Guvna - Day 10

Ah, the ability to sleep in. Wake up call was at 8 this morning, and we left Paris at a leisurely 9:45. Boarded the Eurostar, and I got my passport stamped from France and England as we passed through customs!! The train travels about 300 km which equals somewhere around 180 mph! It made the 3 hour ride a bit more pleasant, but I still managed to sleep during parts of it. We gained an hour for entering England, so until the 24^th I will only be 5 hours ahead of you and not 6 anymore. But then sadly for me, I will lose 2 hours as I fly to Lithuania. The drawbacks of traveling…

We didn’t have anything planned as a group for today, other than going to see one of the London shows. But Mom and Dad opted out of that, so we took another walk into the city to see all the surrounding buildings and stuff. Our hotel is situated in a perfect location as our walk to Big Ben is about 2 minutes. And there was this guy who bends wire into photo frames with your name or whatever you want written on it. It was so cool!

Dinner was at The Albert, which is a cozy little pub about 20 minutes from the hotel. You walk in, seat yourself and go order everything up at the bar. Now, I’m hoping the bar was carding anyone that looked under the age of 25, because if I don’t look over 18 by now I’m going to be really mad… I had the traditional fish and chips, and have to say I wasn’t overly impressed. But it was a nice dinner out, and we enjoyed ourselves.

Took a stroll down to Buckingham Palace, where the Queen usually resides when she’s not off on holiday. I will be seeing more of that tomorrow. And guess what… I had my first squirrel sighting today!! Exciting, isn’t it? So today was a pretty laid back and relaxing day. Tomorrow will be quite busy as it is the last day of my tour around Europe :(.

Day 9 - Au revoir Paris

I really wish I had more time in Paris, because only one day there truly isn’t enough time to explore everywhere. But we got to see the Eiffel Tower again this morning in the sun, and it was a gorgeous day for that! Absolutely perfect weather, I really couldn’t have asked for anything better! We got to go up to the second level of the Tower, which was high enough for me. Seeing the line to go to the very top, I didn’t have enough time to wait. But the sight was more than good enough as I had the view of the entire city of Paris and then some. It was really cool.

After that, I had my first experience of bargaining for goods. I was a lot better than I thought, cause I didn’t think I could do it. But I got what I wanted. It was kind of weird though, cause there were a ton of people trying to sell you stuff all over the place, but you can go up and go for whatever price you want and slowly work out a bargain price. It was weird and I really don’t want to do it again.

So after the Tower, we headed off to Versailles, King Louis XIV (or the Sun King)’s grand palace. It was so beautiful. I honestly couldn’t believe it all. Each room was so extravagant, it was really cool to see, and the gardens were something else all together. Statues lined the hedges, and there were flowers everywhere. It even had a mile long pool. But I guess when you have that much money, there’s not a lot of other things to spend it on.

After that we came back to the hotel to relax for a bit before hitting the city again. We decided to be a little adventurous and take the metro to get to the city. Mom had an interesting time getting through the turning gate and had to have some dashing monsieur save her! Lucky her… But anyway, we headed off to Notre Dame in search for a restaurant along the riverside. We finally settled for one that was across the corner from the Notre Dame and had a pleasant dinner with a couple and their son from our group.

Once again my directional ability was put to the test. And once again I rose to the occasion and headed back the correct way to the metro when others of the group wanted to go a different way. Silly people… well off to London via the Eurostar tomorrow morning. Helloooooo British accents :).

Escargot and Duck in Paris - Day 8

The drive to Paris was nothing spectacular, especially after the wonderful landscape of Switzerland. But the drive went quick enough as I kept dozing off every once in a while. But after the last pit stop, I anxiously waited at the edge of my seat to see the one thing worth spotting above the city skyline: the Eiffel Tower!

We went out to dinner before our drive around the city at night. Oh boy, what a night! Drinks were included, and people were determined not to let anything go to waste. There was this really nice white wine that was mixed with something to turn it pink which made it a bit sweeter, and I must admit it was quite tasty. But after they didn't serve that again, I stuck to my bottle of coke. Sarah had earlier claimed that she wasn't going to be drinking, but as the corner of the room started singing Happy Birthday to a member of our group, she pipes up, "Well, I don't know who's birthday it is, but it's someone's and here's a toast to whoever it is. It's always someone's birthday somewhere!" Oh, what fun.

 Yes, as the title says, I ate escargot and duck this evening. Surprisingly enough, the snails were really tasty! If I'm ever in Paris again, I shall order them once more. See my video that I uploaded on Facebook, it was fun to try and dig them out of the shells. My daringness continued as I ordered duck for my main course. It was a very tender chicken, but with it's own distinct flavor. I was pleased with it.

After our rowdy dinner, we headed off for the climax of the night: the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. I won't bother wasting words on trying to describe it, because I can do it no justice. So please accept my explanation through this picture.

Sadly enough, once you see the Tower at night, nothing else can ever really compare. So the drive around the city kind of lost it's magic, but it was still really nice. Paris, you lived up to my expectations and beyond.

Day 7 - Patience in Switzerland

If you ever want to test your patience, try sitting at your computer for 1 minute after you try to load each page. Then, after that, try sitting there for half an hour and wait for each page to load. Cause I’m doing that second one. Waiting is not fun. Especially when you really really want to do the thing that you’re waiting for. It’s so frustrating to see that you have a message, but you don’t know who it’s from or what it says for over half an hour. And I’m not exaggerating.

But anyway. Lucern is an alright city. We were worried the other day when it was cloudy, concerned that it may push back or cancel our trip up Mt. Pilatus. But the morning was pretty clear, with only a slight mist around the peak. We got to the top of the mountain using the cogwheel train, then to get back down we rode in a gondola and cable car. The view would have been better without the slight cloud, but it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t completely cloudy, so it was a successful trip for me!

After the mountain, we took a little ride around Lake Lucern. Nothing too special, but seeing the surrounding mountains was very pretty. Finally, some down time. I’m absolutely exhausted and it is a whole lot harder trying to find a Switzerland sweatshirt than I ever would have imagined.

Things to keep in mind:

When buying souvenirs, when you see something that you like a lot, go ahead and buy it. Don’t tell yourself that you will buy it later, or see if you can find it cheaper somewhere else. Sure, sometimes that works, but for the times it doesn’t, it turns out to be a heartbreaker. Learned this the hard way and realized that potentially saving $5 isn’t worth missing out on something that I really wanted.

German is a very confusing language and very difficult to understand. I loved Italy cause Italian is very similar to Spanish, so I could kind of translate words enough to understand what was being said to me. But here, I’m totally clueless. So Sam, Caroline, and all you German speakers out there.. wish you could translate for me here in Luzern.

P.S. Again, with my patience running low, the pictures will have to wait for another day. My apologies.

Welcome To Picturesque Switzerland - Day 6

And what a warm welcome it was. Much different than Italy, Switzerland is more mountain-y and with all the lakes at the base. And with regulations regarding buildings, the land has maintained it’s natural looking beauty.

We stopped in Lugano, which is a small city right on the edge of a lake. The water has this beautiful greenish color to it. And with the mountain and houses along the mountainside in the background, the view was amazing. We stopped to see the lion monument that was etched into the side of a rock in honor and memory of the Swiss soldiers that had died protecting the King and Marie Antoinette during the French uprising.

Then off to Lucern. Took a quick walk around the city before heading off to the Swiss Yodeling show. The food was pretty good, and the show was even more entertaining than I could have imagined. A few parts included calling people up on stage to try out either playing the horn or yodeling or chugging some beer. Don’t ask me why, but somehow my table started chanting my name to go play the horn. Oh, lucky me…

It was a lot harder than it looked. Apparently there must be something in the Aussies that enable them to play the horn cause about three of them got it off the first try. I managed a weak and pathetic sound, but hey it was still something!

This was on the walk back to the hotel. It was a gorgeous night for a stroll. We are staying here tomorrow, and hopefully as long as the morning is clear enough, we are off to the top of Mt. Pilatus and then a relaxing short cruise around Lake Lucern.

P.S. I will upload the pictures later and send a message on Facebook when I have done that because as of now, I've been sitting here for over an hour staring at this page to load and I'm losing my patience and my sleep. Good night for now, hopefully tomorrow brings another post and some pictures :)

Ciao Italia - Day 5

It took another morning’s drive to get to Venice, but no rain today! It was bright and sunny, and maybe perhaps a bit too warm for my liking. But the humidity is nothing like Jersey, so my complaining will stop here. We drove through some clouds as we drove through the Apennine Hills.

In order to get into the city we had to take a boat to get to St. Mark’s Square. It was a small boat, but the ride was nice and peaceful. We saw the Basilica quickly as we headed toward the Clock Tower. And the Bridge of Sighs, as it was mainly the last view that prisoners saw from their jail cells. Then off to see a glassblower at his finest as he spent nearly 4 minutes to finish a vase complete with handles. It was amazing to watch.

After some window shopping we finally got to the gondola ride that Mom has been waiting so long for. With a cozy seating for 6, we were off through the small canals that cut through the city. A lot of tight corners as gondoliers were driving every which way through the water. People had warned us about the smells during August, but it wasn’t too bad for the most part. There were certain spots where my nose wasn’t too happy, but overall it was very pleasant.

Well, here I shall say ciao to Italy and teja to Switzerland! Buona Notte.

Rain, Rain Go Away - Day 4

Started off the day driving the 4 or so hours over to Florence in what started off as a drizzle. But, unfortunately, as the drive went on, the rain only got heavier and heavier. Lucky enough today consisted of visiting the Academy of Fine Arts to see Michelangelo's statue of David. It was truly magnificent, standing at 20 feet and looking more life like than imaginable. Unfortunately, the Academy did not allow photos to be taken inside the building, so once again I apologize for my honesty of honoring their request. But good news, almost all of Michelangelo's statues were replicated at the
                                         Signoria Square.

After that, we headed off to the Cathedral for a few moments again to try and escape the rain. And finally, our walking tour ended with Giotto's Bell Tower where the square opened up to the leather goods and gold jewelry stores. They only sell 24k gold, and it weighed at the counter for the final price. So a small charm about the size of a dime was around $155. Gorgeous yes, but a little too fine for my taste, or wallet.

I apologize for not uploading any pictures yet to Facebook. I have had limited access to the Internet, and have had limited amounts of energy. For all of you who know me well should be aware that I very rarely take naps or sleep in moving vehicles. So when I tell you that I have taken a nap every day so far, and managed somehow to sleep on the plane earlier in the trip, you should know that I am quite tired. So bear with me, I do promise that pictures should be coming soon. But I'm off to bed as we have to get up bright and early  to head over to Venice. Good night!

Day 2 and Day 3 - Rome

Early Wake Up Call – Day 2

 Being tired enough to fall asleep but with a mind racing too fast to let go of reality. Besides, nothing says good morning like two screaming children on an airplane. Nearly impossible to fall asleep between the alternating wailing, but somehow they managed to stay quiet for about 2 hours for me to rest before the pilot signaled the wake up call at 7. Losing six hours of sleeping time is not easy to earn back.

Everything is so tiny. All the cars are compact in order to save space for parking, since there are only about 1/3 parking spots for the population of people owning cars. So little mopeds are the vehicles of choice, and boy do they know how to squeeze into tight places. There are no lines to divide the road, only at the ends to specify turning lanes. And even then people don’t tend to follow the lines anyway. They put Jersey drivers to shame…

But Rome is gorgeous. Ancient buildings, cobble stone roads, and fountains everywhere. I even drank out of one that came out the side of a building. Nothing was planned as people were still arriving later in the day, and some people didn’t receive their luggage. Mom, Dad and I decided to walk around the city over to the Vatican for a short while to walk down the roads and explore a bit. Dinner was amazing. It was a six-course meal that started with anti-pasta, followed by three courses of mixed pastas, a saltwater salad, and ended with tiramisu. Finished the day with a walk back to the Vatican to see it lit up. Nice way to end a very long day.

Rome May Not Have Been Built In One Day, But It May Be Seen In One – Day 3

Yep, waking up at 6 is way too early. But hey, if it gets me out of standing in line for 2 hours to get into the Vatican Museum, I’ll do it. Being an artsy person, seeing the ruined statues that were salvaged from the ruins and the silk paintings and the mosaics, it was absolutely breathtaking. Of course, no pictures were suppose to be taken in the Sistine Chapel of Michaelangelo’s ceiling paintings, but as the one lady started taking pictures I really really wanted to whip out my camera and join her. But I apologize for my honesty as I could not bring myself to take pictures of anything in there. Then finally we headed off to the Colosseum to end the planned tour for the day. It wasn’t what I was expecting though, only basing pictures in my mind off of what I had seen in movies. But apparently instead of the pure sand pit surrounded by stands of seats, there is more like a maze that animals were kept in. And they weren’t just your normal lions and tigers, but also giraffes and baboons and whatnot.

After a two hour break, or my daily pass out session (aka a nap), we set off for our Roman Highlights Tour. We started off with the Spanish steps, which include 138 steps, which once a year are adorned with red and white flowers. Sadly, today was not that time. But still, the style and grace of the steps was very nice to admire. Then a stop at the Trevi Fountain, where of course I threw in my coins and wished for one day to be able to return to Rome, and the other for love to find me. I’ll let you know how both turn out ;). And finally we finished at the Piazza Navona, which held yet another magnificent fountain and where we stopped for dinner. Not as extravagant as last night, but still very nice.

Lots and lots of walking, and more pictures than necessary. But I have put some up on Facebook for you to enjoy. Sorry for lack of commentary, but for now I am only allotted 30 minutes of Internet which I need to share with my parents. Don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, but until next time.. off to Florence.

Smooth Sailing - Day 1

Nothing says Happy 31^st Anniversary like taking your only daughter across the world to travel around Europe. Sounds pretty nice, huh? It would if your day didn’t involve last-minute packing, realizing that the suitcases weigh 48, 49 and 57 lbs, and leaving 30 minutes late to get to the airport. Not to mention one spouse is overly concerned about the schedule that the flight will be serving dinner and the other is constantly overanalyzing what we may have possibly forgotten. I’ll let you guess who has been doing which…

Other than that, it has been smooth sailing. Got through customs easily and with no line. Walked down to the correct terminal, and saw some lady get called out across the room by some angry flight attendant for some unknown reason. Great start so far!

But some things that might help your future flight go even easier, please remember to:

1. Eat and drink something before you leave. No matter how stressed you are with your last minute packing, don’t forget to eat. There must be something about traveling that people like to starve themselves. Or at least for any trip I’ve been on this summer… Even if you’re too nervous to eat, make sure you drink something. But then again, there is nothing tastier than a $3 bottle of water at the airport.

2. Don’t wait until the day of your flight to finish packing. This day should be reserved for easy-going, tiny little last minute packing. Because when you find out that your suitcase is 7 lbs over the limit, there is nothing more stressful than trying to decide what you don’t need half an hour before you’re suppose to leave for the airport.

3. Take your shower earlier than 5 minutes prior to leaving. A shower should be a de-stressor, not an additional one.

4. No matter what it takes, make sure that you can bring your cell phone with you. If you’re anything like me, you have now lost your means of communication, watch, alarm clock and calendar. Not to mention the countless times you frantically check your pockets and surroundings in search for the item that you don’t have with you anymore for the next four months. Besides, it will make your 3 hour wait for your flight go a lot faster rather than sitting around staring at a wall. Or worse.. actually talking to your parents.

Packing my life away

This is how my tour is broken up:
Wednesday 11 Flight to Rome
Thursday 12-Friday 13 Rome
Saturday 14 Florence
Sunday 15 Venice
Monday 16-Tuesday 17 Lucern
Wednesday 18-Thursday 19 Paris
Friday 20-Saturday 21 London
Extra days Sunday 22-Monday 23 London
Tuesday 24 Flight to Lithuania


Tips for packing: Do not wait until the day before you leave to go clothes shopping. Might be helpful to be able to pack all your clothes before the day of your flight. It probably would have been a better idea to have a lot of stuff laid out slowly but surely for about two weeks rather than within a two hour span. But hey, if this style of packing works for you, don't fix what aint broke.

One of the worst things about packing is unpacking because you've realized that you packed everything wrong. Like using those air tight bags? Yeah, sounds like a good idea until you have to wrestle with it to get all the air out. Get the ones that you use the vacuum and not your own strength cause by the time you get to the fourth bag, having previously wrestled with the other three about five times (twice to repack it and three times because the top opened), you're pretty tired. But good news! They do actually work, but then you have to keep in mind that annoying 50 lbs limit for your flight. All that new-found space is now very deceiving...

Another annoying thing about packing for 4 months is trying to remember every single little minuscule detail that you do/use each and every day. Like bringing extra deodorant, but then again if the women don't shave in Paris, maybe I can get away with it ;). But be prepared to buy stuff while you're over there.. at least that's what I'm banking on for the stuff that I forget, or what I like to call intentionally saving space.

Other fun facts:
Lithuania uses Litas. $1 US = 2.5 Litas.. so 1 Lita = .40 US

This is my last post from the States. Hopefully the next one will be from somewhere in Rome.

The Basics

Just for everyone's information, here are all the basics to my trip:

I leave August 11th for a 2 week tour around Europe. This includes Rome, Florence and Venice (Italy), Lucerne (Switzerland), Paris (France) and London (England). Then on August 24th I fly to Vilnius (Lithuania), where for the next few days the Study Abroad group will be traveling around until we make it to Klaipeda. This is the city that I will be staying in/really really close to during the semester. I will return to the States on December 18th, the Saturday before Christmas. That's 4 months and a week... which equals a very long time.

There are about 650 students that attend LCC, 60% from Lithuania, and 40% International. There are about 35 Study Abroad students from North America. For the semester, I will either be staying in the dorm located in Klaipeda, which is a 30 minute walk to campus, or I will be staying right on campus. Either way, I will have 3 European roommates. Not necessarily from Lithuania, but they will be from somewhere in Europe.

During the semester we have two planned trips. There is a weekend trip to Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia) September 23-26. Yep, that's right. My birthday weekend! And then in October we have a week trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow (Russia). I am sure I'll get myself to travel to other places during the semester. Some goals include: Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium. We'll see how that turns out.

Other fun facts include:
I will be 7 hours ahead of you. So don't plan to talk to me after 5pm. Talk about a time change...

The weather is going to be crazy. From September to December, the temperature ranges from 65-20 degrees. But with the added average humidity of 90-70%, I'm going to be hot, and then really really cold.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT004470

I will not have my cell phone. BUT, to make up for this very sad fact, I will be on Facebook (of course..) and Skype and AIM or whatever else I can think of. So don't think I'm fully disappearing for 4 months. I'm still here.. just not as often. And yes, I do promise to upload crazy amounts of pictures for all of you to see.

I will miss all of you tons <3