June 12-20

June 12th  Rome--> Florence
It was my first time being out of Rome and I was excited to see what other parts in Italy were like. We boarded our train and headed to Florence. The train system was really easy to figure out but the most annyoing thing is is traveling with luggage. They expect us to lift our huge suitcases over our heads in a little compartment. Other than that the train ride went quite smoothly. When we get there, we were feeling a bit confident and decided to walk to our hotel rather than taking a taxi. After being lost for an hour we hopped in a taxi and he took us about a block to our hotel--fail. On top of us being lost the handle to the suitcase broke during the bumps and distance that we put it through. So now it is real fun lugging that thing around. We went to the Uffizi galleria which had Dvinchi paintings and paintings that I have only seen in text books so it was pretty cool standing in front of them. We had our Rick Steves download on our Ipods that really saved us and we listened through the tour at our own pace. Next we went to the Accodamia which hold the famous "David" sculpture that Michaelangilo is famous for creating. There were no photographs available so that was unfortunate but there was a replica available outside for pictures. The was probably one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. Oh wait, no it's not seeing Jersey Shore that day was! I was just shopping minding my own business and dad waves me to come. Little did I know Vinny and Pauly D would be standing there using the ATM right in front of us. Needless to say that made my day, week, year!! That night we went out for dinner and ate pasta and drank wine the waiter even gave us free shots of Limoncello(Italy's version of Everclear). Mom and Dad were troopers and tried it but didn't love it, I wanted more. We walked around then called it a day.

June 13th Florence--Venice
We woke up and headed for the Duomo early in the morning. While being there I ran into a boy, Colin, that was in my Rome program just got to Florence and said he was headed for Venice the next day. We were headed for Venice that day so we hoped to meet up. After the Duomo we went shopping down a market that lasted for miles. This is where I got some gifts :) We had lunch then boarded the train to Venice. When the ticket man came around to check tickets we didn't have a date filled in and got fined 50 euro. Italians have no hearts. The couple a-crossed from us had the same problem so Dad and his new friend went and complained but they didn't do anything about it unfortunately. To my surprise Venice was an island. We had to take a bus which was a boat to the section of the island our hotel is on. Hauling all our luggage trying to find the hotel--it starts pouring. In Venice cars are not allowed, bikes, scooters, nothing. The "streets" are more like alleys. It is very easy to get lost and to make it worse there are bridges all over where you have to go up and down steps numerous times. Definitely not luggage friendly. When finally finding our hotel were happy campers. We went and found somewhere to eat, checked out St. Mark's square then went to bed.

June 14th
We get up early to go to St. Marks Cathedral and the palace. We shopped around all the shops which I purchased a necklace made of color glass which is what Venice is known for then went to a nice dinner outside that included a bottle of wine. Mom says I'm becoming her little drinking buddy :) Me and Colin meet up to go get a couple a drinks along with his little brother ..it being his first time being in a bar. We stayed until bar close..which was 12:30am but mom was happy I was home so early. Now I am starting my online class which is a bummer but it is not too stressful.

June 15th Venice--Munich
We had a 9am train to catch to Munich so we were up and out of our hotel bright and early in the morning. Everything went smoothly except for one thing, when we had to switch trains in Verona, the train that we boarded had problems with their first class. They doors to the outside didn't work, which was known in Italy but once we crossed Austria they did not like that. Policemen and people who were in uniform were pacing back and forth and were making us feel very uneasy considering we ditched our first-class seats and moved up to business-class. We thought we were in trouble because they were speaking to us but it was our first time hearing German so we had no clue what they were even saying. Turns out in the middle of the train they tell us that we have to move all our belongings and go back to the back of the train which is more like an amtrak setting. Needless to say we a bit more luggage than the average person on this section of the train and was very hard to maneuver around everyone. I felt like I got a lot of stares and German whispers about us. I don't know why but I pictured Germany to be even more lacking on the modern side than Italy. It turns out that they have great shopping, great food (I've been eating Brats and Beer alot), and great people. Munich is definitely up there with Rome--I love this city and want to come back in the future for sure! We found a nice place to eat dinner when we arrived and called it a night.

P.s. they charge 80 cents to go to the bathroom in the train stations. If you don't have exact change..don't bother to go to McDonalds, they won't help you out until you buy something.

June 16th
We got up and met our tour at the train station to go to the Dachau concentration camp tour. All I can say is Wow. I will never to go to one again. It would be very hard to go to if a relative or friend that I knew actually had to go through that because the information they tell you and the pictures you see are very graphic and horrifying. It was sureal standing in the same place that almost 40,000 people died and Hitler once walked. I had goosebumps the whole time. I wanted to get a picture in front of it and for once in my life I felt so wrong to smile in front of a sign that says "Work will set you free." It was interesting to see though and you feel for it more when you actually visit rather than reading about it in a text book.  We had lunch at the Hofbrauhas which is a beer hall that was used way back in the Napolean time. Here we saw men in traditional german gettup drinking beer or playing in the band. The waitresses were serving humongous pretzels and we ordered things we have never heard of. Of course we all got a beer, and dad won the chugging contest. Later that night we decide that we need to do laundry before my backpacking trip so we looked in the Rick Steves book and discover there is a laundry mat near-by..or so he made it seem. We took the subway to the trainstation and started walking. As it always seems to happen to us, we ask someone for directions that they tell us the wrong way. We finally stop in a hotel and they say that it closed at 8pm. We just decided to find it so we know where to go the next day and they end up being open. So we had a nice relaxing time at the Laundry mat that night.

June 17th
We got up early and headed on a walking tour around Munich. The guide was very sarcastic and sometimes though that his jokes were more important than the actually history but we all had an enjoyable time. After that me and mom went shopping than we were scheduled to have a bike tour at 4pm. The bike tour was awesome. Mom and Dad loved it--the tour guide was funny and very knowledgeable. Of course, the tour ends at a beer hall so we all sat together and enjoyed dinner and drove our bikes back to where we met. Some of the things we saw was a nude park and river surfing. Some of the things we learned is it is very hard to dodge a crowed of people on a bike when your in a huge group. It was beautiful weather and we all had a great time.

June 18th Munich--Paris
We made the train ride safely to Paris and showed up at our Hotel Leveque, one that Rick Steve recommended. It is on a quiet little street that has a market in the morning than nightlife at night. The elevator can barely fit one person in it so the amount of steps that I have gone up this trip is beyound me.  Molly successfully met us at the hotel and we had dinner right across the street then headed over to the Eiffel Tower for a photo-shoot. Surprisingly it is sooo cold here! We knew that it would be cold starting in London but we didn't expect the coldness here.

June 19
We got up early then headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral where we also stayed for mass. It was all in French but still an experience..Dad said he understood the priests' sermon better than he can understand Father. To my surprise I did not see Quawsimoto at the cathedral which was quite a let down but I got through it. After that we headed to the Orsay Musuem, then went up the Eiffel tower just before dinner. Me, Molly, and Mom went out for a couple of drinks and got crazy jk but it was a fun night. We are pros at the metro but not pros on reading maps.

June 20
Today we started off at the Louve Musem which is one of the largest musems in the world. We used the Rick Steves tour again and made it around ending with the Mona Lisa. It is not as big as I thought it would be but the crowd was. You couldn't even get close to it. Without the Rick Steves guide you could be looking at artwork for hours. We shopped a little bit, had lunch at Mcdonalds which had a kiosk where you ordered food instead of telling a lady(I thought that was cool), and then went to the arch of triumph.Today is my last night in Paris and the last night with Mom and Dad. It's sad but that means it's time for my backpacking trip which I have been waiting for months to go on! I am so ready to be home and not wake up at 7am every morning and walk all day in big crowds. I just want to lay in bed with Jack and Chloe :). I think the backpacking trip is going to be a bit of a wine down and not Dan Doyles version of a vacation. We are going to have dinner around the Eiffel Tower tonight then Mom and Dad go back home early in the morning and me and Molly go to Amsterdam.
I don't know what my internet access will be there but hopefully I will get better at posting!