Some Beach, Somewhere

While Italy has been more than fabulous to us, it was time for us to make a departure and head towards our last Southern Europe Country - France. First stop the lovely beaches of Nice.

While the trip to Nice from Pisa was about 6 hours it felt so short as we sunk into our train routine. Get on train, pull out Kindle, check for a plug, adjust brightness and begin reading. I was not much of a reader before this trip, but all this train time has made me more appreciative of my Kindle app.

After 3 train changes and a lunch of crackers and water, we arrive in Nicw! Ready for a late beach night. But we had to rid ourselves of the extra weight (seriously this pack is starting to be a slight pain). We checked into our 25 euro a bed 6 bed dorm and went to see it only to find every bed looking occupied. We went back to lareception only to be upgraded to a private 1 bed room with private bath. Such a great thing.

The night was spent on the Nice pebble beaches. Such a gorgeous. Sight from a rich blue to turquoise waves to the lovely grey pebbles it was a beauty to see. I enjoyed some time floating on the waves and just listening to the waves pour in. And an hour laying for a tan and reading. After some time we embarked to find something fruity to quench our taste buds, a cocahabana smoothie was jus what we needed before a return to sleep.

The next day we woke up late with no train to catch dropped our bags in the luggage room and went to the fruit and flower morning market in the old city that our hostel recommended where we got bread, bananas, apples, peaches for a snack. Then we went up another thousand steps (ok maybe not that many) to the top of the Nice Castle. We took in the beauty of such a wonderful place. Even stumbled upon the waterfall. All before noon and all before returning to the beach for some more tanning. When it got to hot to bare (and my fear of extreme burn kicked in) we went up to the castle again to eat in the shade and read some. Then back to the hostel to confirm our travel plans and prepare for the day of Paris ahead.

A night train to Paris awaits us along with our half way mark.

Lean on me...

Oh dear dear Pisa how you have arrived at perfect timing (well us, since you live here and all). Pisa actually takes less than a day to see so its a perfect stop to relax and recover from the get up and go mentality that the two of us have been running on. Jimma unfortunately felt sun drained and overwhelmed with the heat therefore sweet Pisa stepped in to save the day! As its been the most relaxing day!

We found our hostel with relative easy took in the cool air and some water and sauntered (seriously because it takes 20 minutes sauntering) across the entire town of Pisa to where the famous tower leans. Behold it leans! (no we didn't doubt that it did however it is interesting to see) I was surprised to see the tower was surrounded by the Duomo (cathedral) along with other buildings as most pictures show only the tower (with people holdin' their hands out to prevent it's fall). We wandered around town for a while and deciding that some time out of the sun and some clothes washing must be done (you'd never think two people would be so excited about washing clothes!) While hanging out in the hostel we met this lovely couple from Australia who have been traveling for 4 months and still have 3 to go! A soul searching/mid-life crisis at a young age as they put it. Along with them we found the BEST pizza in town as our dinner (none but James could finish his share) in this cute off the street cafe from which our full bellies need some time to recover!

Thus as the sun began its descent from the sky we set out again to observe this curious tower within the cloak of night. We were told that the sight is magnificent with light that lit its features for all to see and ravel in. Never believe the words that people say (well you can just take caution because one person's life changing sights are not necessarily someone else's). The sight of the tower at night was beautiful and calming. We sat and read for awhile under its it's dim glow but imagine looking up and seeing a tower that is silver against the midnight blue sky shimmering above you and enveloping you in its magnificence. Be that as it may it is a sight to behold and cherish in.

The night slowly tugged at our sleepiness and sent us forth for a nice shower and much needed sleep as tomorrow another country and thus adventure awaits us!

Land (well building) of a thousand steps

Best thing about a train ride is when they offer plugs so you can listen to music without draining your battery. Therefore here is L.E.O.'s maiden voyage!!! (For some odd reason I associate L.E.O. with ships alas as I do not know why.) It's a good thing because we were starting to think we only brought him for pictures (which he doesn't mind one bit). Onward to Florence (which is nothing like its Italian name, Firenze) I wonder what awaits us...
New best thing when you can find your hostel without turning down a wrong street! Now unto Florence and the wonders it holds. Armed with a map an water (lots of water) we started on our journey throughout Florence and can I say we make every minute count. Our destination the Pizzale Michelangelo (which rumor has is the best view of the city). Along our journey we check out the mercato centrale, the Basislica of San Lorenzo (that should have been L.E.O.'s first name), the Cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore, Dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, Piazza della Signoria, the Uffizi Gallery and over the Pante Vecchio finally towards our last stretch up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. To be clear it is a hike in 90 degree weather and at the top there is no shade but the view is simply amazing as all of Florence laid before us. Some things capture your attention while others capture your heart! Technically the later happened but never fear the sight does take your breath away in a splendid way. Needless to say the hike an four bottles of water where well worth laying our eyes upon it.
Random question what is it about the phrase y'all that makes people want you to repeat it over and over again?
So next thing (after gelato because let's face it I take after my mother and am addicted to ice cream and Italy makes the best ice cream ( Blue Bell gives it a run for its money though)) a quick change and off to tour through gorgeous churches!
Do you know how many steps it takes to get to the top of the Dome in Florence? Well we don't either but I'll tell you it's quite a few and then some. (Update from Jimma: about 460 steps according to google) I felt like I was in a dungeon (well on my way to a dungeon) with the fun steep steps and tight spiral stair cases that frankly never seemed to end. The art work however is exquisite on the. bottom of the dome and when you reach the top on the outside the view is amazing (probably better than the Piazzale Michelangelo). The buildings were so close and yet so far below you (and the people looked like ants so you felt like you could rule them all! not really but it's a thought, not really on that either, maybe I should read less Empire capturing books). All you can really do is inhale deeply and enjoy the moments you are given. All day I have seen things (some slightly inappropriate things) that I just know my brother would like (not that Chad wouldn't but he is a bit classier lol) and it makes you realize how important all moments are because you never know when one will really matter.
After feet soaked in the pool (sandals through Europe may not be my smartest plan, yes I brought real shoes but I'm stubborn and don't want to wear them all of the time) and some nice conversations (plus a bit of Internet time) we give blessings and sweet thoughts to Florence and anticipate Pisa in the morning! Farewell dear readers as you never know what tomorrow may bring!

Ahhh!!! We're Sinking! :)

O Venice - the city that's sinking, the city of Venician masks and gondolas, the city of so many confusing canals and bridges (that makes finding your hostel a challenge like none other), the city of well... Tourism. O Venice - the city we love!

We had such a good but Hott day in Venice! We arrived off the morning train from Milan where we spent 3 hours being avid readers. Straight off the train you immediately see the beauty of Venice from its murky blue water to the italian buildings of yellows, oranges, pinks to the boat cars docked along the canal. Such a beautiful sight.

We have kinda a routine when we arrive in a town to find our hostel because neither of us really want to carry our bag. However the bridges and canals proved to be a bigger challenge then our non map carrying selves could tackle. So after some determined wandering and an intense work out we finally bought the map to take us there. Upon arrival the hostel was on a brief cleaning lock out do we set down with Minnesota girls and chatted. Until our new British Australian guy friend came up. Matt must be included in this lovely blog only for the fact of how sweet he was but also how much he was totally into the bubbly red head. My favorite quote of the whole conversation had to be when he laughingly informed Kyndall that if she ever went to Australia the boys would flock all over her and she would have to beat them with a stick to get them to go away. Multiple times. (Speaking from some internal feelings for her I am sure ;) ) What can we say a Texan girl is as Hott as British/Australian accents are to us!

But alas you did not come to read of the humorous account of Matt, you came for Venice so let us return. St Mark's Basilica was absolutely gorgeous! Italians sure do know how to build beautiful churches. It is right off the main canal of Venice and is just grand and so much detail. We also enjoy some time over looking the grand canal and taking beautiful pictures. Of course we were super Hott and tried so we decided to shop a little. The Masks of Venice were super unique and fun to see all the takes on. And I promise if Kyndall and I weren't on week 1 of 3 the Venician glass would of been my down fall.

After a break from the sun, we of course took part in round 2 of gelato. So yummy. These flavors weren't our favorites but still amazing! Then we enjoyed a peaceful break at one of the bridges sitting on the canal edge watching the sun set and the boats go by. Such a relaxing site.

Our night was mainly complete; however, we took our brief internet break during the middle of the Euro2012 game in our hostel reception. Such a great cultural moment.

Venice, you have been nothing but grand but alas Florence calls to us. Time to go find what those HUF kids think is so special. :) Until next time here's the photo version of Venice.

From Swiss Chocolate to Italian Pizza

Well after the crazy train issue of yesterday we were beyond happy to finally boarded our train to Bern. While it was a little sad that the only time we spent to Geneva was running to the next train platform, we did manage to get our picture with the sign! (Don't worry Geneva we will be back someday.)

Bern is such a gorgeous town! Seeing as I (Jimma) have been to Interlaken before I was excited for another Swiss adventure. Bern did not depress. From the gorgeous clock tower in the center of town to the adorable houses, Bern has to be the quaintest capital city I have ever been to. For those who didn't know Bern means "Bear" so we of course had to go this morning to the Bern bear pit! The bears were so cute!!!! (Granted that may of been cause I was a good 10 ft above them). From there, Kyndall convinced me that we had to make the hike up the long brick road to the rose garden over looking Bern! For a girl in a skirt and flip flops that wasn't what I quite had in mind, but of course when I know there's going to be an amazing picture opportunity I must go! I was so glad! It was just an amazing view of the whole city of Bern! Such beauty nestled between some mountains. And the roses were gorgeous as well! We spent the rest of the morning walking down random roads and just taking Bern in. Finally, we did make a stop for our Swiss chocolate to take home and even ended up with new Rubber Duckies to add to our collection! Now we have a British duck and a Swiss duck. :)

After returning for our bags, we were off to catch the train to Milan! (For those who are keeping track this means we have been in 5 countries in the last 4 days!) We arrived in Milan and secured the rest of our train tickets for the next week. Then we set out on the adventure of the awful directions to the hostel. I have to give us credit, we are amazing with a map! After finding our cute quaint hostel, we had to see the Duomo! And it goes without saying that we took part in the first of many pizza and gelato runs! The best part of the night had to be the concert in the city center where we hear "Summer Loving" and watched the Macarena take place.

Tomorrow the sinking city of Venice! Ps Now enjoy some photos :)

In around-about-way

Well ladies and gents it looks like our night train to Pairs fell a little behind but never fear plans are still running as normal (just two hours delayed) just like the lovely rain (which is not). However make sure you make reservations for your next train as soon as you get there or might find yourself missing one train and switching to three separate lines (because apparently no one knows where to go) in order to make reservations for your next train and if you aren't careful you might miss the next one...
Well looks like the day is wasted sitting in a Paris train station (maybe) unfortunately when traveling these things happen and you find yourself in a situation that you didn't particularly want to be in. Therefore today we are siting in a cold and in some places wet and crowded train station and heaven forbid there be a comfortable place to sit (we are tough and can handle it). This does mean that the beautiful Geneva will have to wait for another day on another trip ( I wouldn't be upset about that). Tonight at 6 pm we shall leave for Bern for a warm place to lay our head when we arrive at 11, glad I've been there before so I am fairly certain I know where I am going. :) Never fear our spirits may be cracked at the moment but not broken nor shattered and in the end it's be a small bump on an incredible adventure.

Every journey begins with a single (mostly hours upon hours of walking) step...

Hola! Bienvenidos de la Barcelona! Through many trials come great things! The beginning of our stay looked bright and exciting (technically cloudy and through sleep deprived eyes) as we made our way through the crowded city to our hostel (by way of bus and metro). Found our hostel through the memory of Jimma (see some people remember even insignificant things years later) with ease. Therefore we dropped our bags (well stuffed them in a secure locker) and quickly greeted Barcelona. Now for the past two years I have listened to Jimma talk non-stop about theses smoothies at an amazing farmer's market so first stop St Josep Mercat La Boqueria. Rows and rows of yummy in my tummy fruit (but seriously because that was my lunch) and nuts,veggies, and uncooked meat and seafood. Which inspired a trip to the port (not really that was where we were going next anyways). We walked along the port then to the beach (really what is a vacation without the beach?) we decided to take a break in the early afternoon (four hours of walking with two days lack of sleep takes a lot out of you) and checked into the hostel Well after a short rest we decided to reserve our tickets for our night train to Geneva (sounds like a good plan) turns out that particular train only leaves on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday night (sounds like a bad plan right if you are leaving on a Friday). Back to the hostel in order to form plan B (technically plan F, we changed our minds a lot before actually leaving). After much debate we decided that a night train to Paris with a three ish hour train ride to Geneva is the best course of action. Therefore a quick trip to the other station to reserve a ticket is in order. Well as we know that never works out and we managed to spend two hours in lovely circles looking for a train. Needless to say it was late and we figured out where it was but that was a task to handle on a different day.

So different day... No problems :) after a good night's sleep and a nice shower (pretty sure I needed it) we grabbed a quick breakfast, checked out and headed for the train and wouldn't you know it it was two blocks in the direction we didn't go in yesterday. Well you live and learn. After fixing our train troubles we headed on a nice walk in a park across the street, (our oasis if you will) the Ciutadella Park, which had an amazing fountain. After that we sauntered our way (well faster then that because Jimma walks a lot faster than I do) to a half-finished church with extreme details! La Sangrada Familia shows the culture of the country and is embedded in the hearts of many. Definitely something worth seeing! Well look at the time (which was lunch) so we headed down to the beautiful market for a bit of fruit and a bit of shopping (what, we are girls)! Therefore after a bit of a rest at the hostel from last night and a nice conversation with a girl from Holland (who was curious if we were going there, it seems everyone wants you to visit their home but they don't offer you to stay with them) we loaded up our bags, grabbed some snacks and headed to the train!

Tune in tomorrow (or the next time we have wifi) for our adventure through France to the colder (so Jimma hopes) Switzerland!