My Week With the Fam, and Thanksgiving in England

Well, the 'Fam' being Mom, my siister Allyson, Alex (mom's friend that I visited in Finland), and my cousins Kaitlyn and Brynn.  Alex, Mom, and Allyson got in on Thursday night.  I went and checked out the Ripple (aka the Mumford house) on Eel Pie Island with a few friends.  We made dinner and watched a movie and I started some laundry.  Then I took the bus out to the airport to meet them (and I think I've finally figured out the fastest way!).  I found Alex (since she had landed first) and we had a beer while we waited for the other two to land.  They ended landing early and we went to greet them. Mom was crying (aww she missed me).  Since they had landed early, the cab was not there yet, so we went and got another beer (Allyson was so excited to buy hers legally!).  But then the cab driver called and we had to go find her.  We made it back to the island and got some Pizza Bella, and spent the night (and wee hours of the morning) relaxing and talking.

On Friday, we ventured in to London Waterloo and got lunch at a pub in the station to get some fish n' chips and a beer.  Then I gave them a little tour of the Southbank, London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster, and Trafalgar Square.  Then we were cold and tired and headed back and had another chill night.

Saturday morning, Kaitlyn and Brynn arrived, with their diva-sized suitcases in tow.  It took forever to get back from the airport because there was a rugby game in town, and traffic was horrendous! Once they got somewhat settled, we went out to lunch at the York Street Cafe.  Alex discovered that the owner was Finnish, and we had a nice conversation with her!  Then we went in to London again to do some sight-seeing.  We saw some of the same stuff again, as well as Buckingham Palace, Regent's and Oxford Streets.  I bought a sweet pair of leather high tops with fur which I loved! Then we went to see the Tower of London.  We took some pictures of it and the Tower Bridge.  There was also some red carpet fancy event going on (which we think might have been the Twilight premiere? we aren't sure...).  We got hungry and found a nice little pub nearby and had fish n' chips and a beer (again).  Then I realized that I did not have my shopping bag with my shoes in them.  Panicking, I rushed towards the Tower where we were taking pictures, and it was closed off.  I asked a guard if they had found anything and he said they had swept the area and not found anything.  I wanted to cry.  Did I mention that these shoes were real leather and cost me $90?? Yeah.  I was really upset.  What a stupid, expensive mistake.  In the dark, on a Friday night, in a busy area. #facepalm Combined with crowded trains and line closures, it was a stressful and depressing rest of the night.

On Sunday we went to have Sunday roast at a pub called The Fox in Twickenham.  It was really good! Then Alex had to leave us. :(  It was a beautiful day, so we decided we would try and do the London Eye.  After some delay in getting out to the house and getting tickets online, we made it into London.  We ended up going up a little after 4, so we got to see the views during sunset.  It was GORGEOUS.  We all got some really neat photos (I took quite a few...) and we were really glad we went!  Then we came back and went to The George, a local pub.  We met some interesting British guys, along with a New Zealander and an Irish man.  We had a fun time with them (mostly) and they were pretty entertaining (mostly).

Monday we got up early to get to the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace.  We got good spots on the statue-island in front of the castle.  We saw them parade in and march around, and heard the band play a few songs.  Then we left a little early to avoid the crowds and since we were cold.  We stopped in one of the gift shops to warm up and shop a big.  Then I took them to explore Camden Markets.  Luckily, it was much less crowded than last time I was there.  I think we all bought at least one thing, and we even did some haggling! Then we were starting to get tired and we had planned on going for tea.  We went to the Kensington Palace Orangery for a "proper" afternoon tea.  And it was proper!  It was quite fancy (and $20 per person!).  But we all got a three-tiered serving platter with finger sandwiches, crumpets, and deserts with a tea of our choice.  I had the classic London afternoon tea.  That was a fun experience!  We tried to go to the Palace afterwards, but it was closed, and we got a little lost trying to find our way out of the gardens!  We hopped a train back to Twickenham and stopped at the grocery store to get some food for dinner.  We made spaghetti with french bread and salad! And the salad we got came with DIRT. Weird, right? We weren't expecting that.  But I was happy to have a regular, home-cooked meal. :)

During the day on Tuesday we ventured to Kingston to shop.  I introduced them to Primark (we spent a while in there!) and I got a sweater for three pounds! We strolled through some of the other shops like River Island and TopShop and went to the Bentall's Centre (like a mall).  Mom and Kaitlyn bought London Starbucks mugs.  We had lunch at a Pret a Manger, and we have decided that there needs to be more of them in America, so we are going to open one in Des Moines. (plans still pending).  After stopping at home for a little bit, we headed back in to London to attend an evensong service at Westminster Abbey.  It was AWESOME.  The church is so beautiful, and the choir sounded amazing.  Especially with the acoustics!  It was a really neat experience, even if I couldn't take any pictures!  We were done in 40 minutes, so we went back to Waterloo and had a beer to wait out rush hour.  And we got these cool burlap bags with a union jack and heart on them!  When we got back we went out to eat at the George, and Kaitlyn, Brynn, and I hit up one other pub, The Bear, before heading home.

On Wednesday, I had class, so Mom, Ally, Kaitlyn, and Brynn went to the Tower of London (in the pouring rain), and I stayed home to work on my paper that was due Thursday.  I loved being able to do my homework in a house instead of my cramped dorm room or the library.  The girls came back cold and soaked, and we opted for Chinese take out that night.  Then we all got ready and the young girls (no Mom!) went over to campus to meet some of my friends for a birthday party.  We were going to go out clubbing, but decided not to.  We ended up going to the SU bar (student union, on campus) for one drink, then to the George to finish the night.  We were getting frustrated with everything closing so early here!  But it was a fun night!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I had class on Thanksgiving for the first time ever! (and it was my long day of classes, to top it off!)  So the girls went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour (they were pretty excited).  Then, later that night, the school was hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the American/International students in the area.  We were the first to show up, and it was way fancier than I was expecting.  We even felt a little underdressed, as people showed up in suits and dresses, and we were in jeans and nice tops.  They had free champagne for us before we were seated, and the tables were immaculately set.  We socialized a bit and met some of my friends before dinner started.  There was free wine (always a plus) and rolls at first, then the first course was served: some sort of squash soup.  The main meal included turkey with gravy, stuffing, green beans, and sweet potatoes.  I was pleasantly surprised with the food.  It was pretty good!  Not exactly like home, but it did the job.  For desert, we had this almond-caramel "pudding" thing that kinda tasted like cornbread, but it was tasty.  We were then served coffee or tea and some mini mince pies (which I had never had).  We were a bit upset that there was no pumpkin pie.  Then after dinner, they threw us an "American" party at the SU Bar.  They had it all decorated in red, white, and blue with stars.  It looked more like the Fourth of July! They even had beer pong especially for us, and a DJ.  We got to mingle with all of the other international students and some of their guests.  It was a really fun night, probably one of my favorites here.  And we got to dance and play Flippy Cup, which is one of my favs!  After the party, we had to walk home in the rain because the next bus was a long wait.  I told them we do that walk all the time, but they aren't used to it!  Overall, it was the strangest, most interesting Thanksgivings I have ever had.

On Black Friday we slept in a long time (no shopping for us!). Even Mom!  After finally getting moving, we headed to Greenwich for the day.  We ate a a pub there called The Lost Hour, and played Uno, just for Grandma K!  I had my first 'bangers and mash,' and there was, of course, someone with fish n' chips.  After that we walked up the big hill to the Royal Observatory to stand on the Prime Meridian, and got some awesome pictures.  The Olympic park was pretty much torn down, so we didn't get to see that this time.  We wandered back down to the river to see the Royal Navy Academy and the Queen's house, and the Cutty Sark.  We went to the Greenwich Market and looked around a bit and finished with a souvenir shop (though one of the better ones in my opinion) and a candy shop, where we found our souvenir tea tins and TWINKIES! So of course we bought some, because who knows? It could be my last.  When we got back to Twick-city, we went to 'spoons (a pub called Weatherspoons) and had our last supper together.  I think we all got fish n' chips (except Ally, she doesn't like fish).  We met up with a few of my friends and chatted for a while, then decided to go home so the Carpenter girls could pack and get ready to leave in the morning.

Saturday morning we sent the Carpenters on their way (after some creative packing and praying that everything would fit under weight limit).  I got a text from Kaitlyn after they made it through security, "There is a God! After some rearranging and flirting with the airline and security men, we are in!" Oh, funny girls!  After we had grabbed some lunch at Cafe Zizou in town, Mom and I spent the afternoon running errands and finding another piece of luggage so I could send some of my stuff home with them (I'm worried I won't be able to fit it all!).  It was a rainy, cold day, and Allyson had stayed home to do homework (though when we came back, she was watching Harry Potter/napping).  Mom and I had stopped at my room and packed up a few of my things that I won't need my last 18 days here. Only 18 left!!! It's gone so fast!  Then Ally was too tired to go out, so Mom and I went to an Italian pizza place in Teddington (recommended by my Italian friend) called Canta Napoli.  We got a half-meter pizza and some vino, and it was quite good! (though the leftovers weren't nearly as good).  We came home and watched the UK version of the Hallmark Channel, which was playing Christmas movies.

On Sunday, we slept in again and chilled out in the Mumford house, getting everything ready to leave and making beef stew for dinner for a few of my friends.  We had to clean up the house and get everything organized.  We watched the "Hallmark Channel" again and listened to Mumford & Sons. :)  Then my friends came over for dinner (yum!) and they brought some wine and "British Christmas Cake," which we decided was fruitcake.  Needless to say, we threw the rest out.  I went back to school with my friends to take back my suitcase of laundry and came back for one last night at the Ripple.

Today (Monday) I went with Mom and Ally in the cab to Heathrow and helped them get all their luggage checked and secured and followed them up to security before saying goodbye.  But I will see them in three weeks!  I found my way back to the bus station to head back, went to the grocery store, and came back to campus to unpack and reorganize.  Then I went to a coffeeshop in Twick-city to do some homework with friends.  I am determined to get all (or most) of my papers done early so I can enjoy my last week in London!  I am already missing the couches, kitchen, big bed, open space, windows, and peace at the Mumford house.  It's hard to go back to my dorm room after that!  But only three more weeks I guess... Bittersweet!

Sorry for the long post, but there you have it! My week with my family and Thanksgiving in England! :)

Recovery Week

This week has been a little rough, trying to catch up on sleep, work, and laundry after reading week.  I have been so tired! I finished one paper, but still have one more to do for this week, and another for the week after.  I have only done one load of laundry.  I just want to lay in my bed and do nothing!  But I press on...
Oh! I almost forgot! When I got home on Monday night, my friends had tagged me in a post of Facebook about a Christmas lighting at the Westfield Mall in London, and Taylor Swift was guest starring! Sooo we made plans to go. Unfortunately, the writstbands were free, but were first come, first serve, starting at 7am... So we got up at 5am to catch a train in to wait for a wristband.  We were tired but we made it and we got our wrist bands!  After we got coffee and breakfast and headed back.  We had to be back by 5pm to get a spot, so we left campus at 3.  Our train ended up being delayed, because someone got hit by a train a few stops away! So we had to switch to the tube, and luckily we made it there on time.  The lights were switched on at 6, and Taylor sang three songs afterwards.  It was pretty great (even though I think she was lip syncing).  And the lights were beautiful! I want to go see all of the Christmas lights in London. So pretty!  Afterwards, we hung around for an encore, but there was none. :(  So we got frozen yogurt instead and walked around the mall.  Apparently it is one of the best in the country, with over 300 stores and 30 restaurants.  And it was huge, with lots of designer shops also.  Then we headed back to campus, because we were all exhausted!  It was definitely a YOLO (you only live once, for the oldies reading this) experience!
On Thursday night, I went to see Skyfall with a bunch of friends at the theater in Kingston.  (before everyone in the US, I might add!)  The cinemas here are a bit different than at home.  For one, they snacks they serve are different.  They have your usual candy, popcorn, nachos, and drinks, but they also serve hand-dipped ice cream!  The seats in the theater were very steep, and there was no room to walk through the aisles.  My knees hit the back of the seat in front of me.  They also have "priority" seating, which are nicer seats in the prime seating areas that you have to pay extra for.  Anyways, the movie was good, but very long.  It also seemed a bit different than the other Bond movies.  It seemed more like a superhero movie to me, and the main villain reminded me of the Joker. I liked it, but others I was with weren't impressed.
This weekend I have been sleeping... a lot!  On Saturday we went to nearby Kingston to go shopping.  It felt like Christmas season, with some decorations already up, and all of the people out!  Plus, Starbucks had Christmas cups.  We had fun window shopping and walking around.  Sunday we went to nearby Richmond in the afternoon for a spot of tea and to enjoy the gorgeous weather.  And now I really need to stop procrastinating and write my papers, since my family will be here at the end of the week!

Final Stop Five: Munich, Germany

We arrived in Munich and easily found our hostel. It was the biggest one we had stayed in yet!  Our room was on the fourth floor and up a spiral staircase.  It was nice because the beds were more spread out into a few connected rooms, so it was a little quieter and more private (as private as a hostel room can be!).  After we settled in, we headed out to one of the local brewery restaurants for dinner.  We had our first brews and I had traditional Bavarian sausage and sauerkraut. Afterwards we went and hung out at the hostel bar before heading to bed.  The next morning, we decided to take advantage of the "free" tour offered by the hostel.  Our tour guide was quite interesting. He was a tall, black guy that sounded amazingly American (but he wasn't).  He said he had lived in six different countries and he spoke four languages!  But he was a very good tour guide, and you could tell he loved his city of Munich!  The tour was one of the best tours I think I have ever been on.  It was very informative, and had a lot of history! I feel like I actually learned something, because he repeated things a lot and made it interesting and relatable.  So we did the walking tour for 3-4 hours (which included an authentic brautwurst!).  We visited the central catholic church (and learned that Munich is very catholic), the Marienplatz, Viktualienmarket, Haufbraus (including the room where the Nazi party was formed), Residenzplatz, etc). After the tour we tipped the tour guide (that's how "free" tours work) and wandered back through the shops of the market and the city center.  We got some souvenirs (I got a little shot-glass sized tankard!) and some hot roasted almonds (delicious!). We then went back to the hostel to relax a little bit.  That night we went on a pub tour (with the same tour guide) to get a taste of local night life.  We got pork-knuckle sandwiches and went to a few different types of pubs and tried a different type of beer at each.  In between, we got to try some Bavarian schnapps.  It was all very fun, and a really cool experience!  One of the pubs was very cozy, with a live musician playing accordian.  All the people were sitting at long tables, swaying to the music and singing along, and included us also! They were all very friendly (and ok, maybe a little drunk!).  We also went to a beer hall, which is just like a giant cafeteria full of long tables with benches with everyone drinking beer.  

We spent the next day in Rothenburg (see separate post), and when we got back, we made our way to the city center to find some food.  We went to another beer hall because we were cold, and it was very warm in there! I had traditional Bavarian pork roast and some sort of potato dumpling.  It was very filling.  Then we just went back to the hostel and hung out at the bar before going to bed early after a long day.

On Sunday we went to Dachau Concentration Camp.  It was very somber, to say the least.  I don't even know if I can write anything about it.  It had been cleaned up quite a bit, and much of it was torn down.  We went with a tour guide, who offered some interesting information, but we didn't get a whole lot of time in the actual museum part.  There were multiple sculpture memorials from many different groups, but one of the most overwhelming ones was a mass grave, atop of the mounds of ashes from the crematorium.  It was called the "Grave of Thousands Unknown."  It was all very chilling to see, but I'm glad we went.  It was a good way to remember the terrible events that happened during that time, and isn't something I will soon forget.
After our visit there, we hung out in the hostel, as we were all exhausted.  We went to an Italian place nearby, which was strange... It was an Italian restaurant, in Germany, but the waiter spoke English with random bits of French.  It was just funny!  Additionally, they played the same song almost the entire time we were there. It was just ridiculous.  But the food and wine was good, and it was fairly cheap.  After that, we hung out at the hostel bar with some new friends we made from Canada, the UK, and Brazil.  They were a fun bunch, and we enjoyed playing pool and swapping stories.  The Brazilian was particularly amusing.  He had on a University of Illinois shirt, and I asked him about it.  He told me his ex-girlfriend (who he had met while she was studying abroad in Brazil) went there and got him that shirt.  I told him I was from Illinois, but he must not have properly understood, and assumed I went there.  He then asked me if I knew his ex-girlfriend.  I had to explain to him that it was a rather large school, and even if I did go there, it was unlikely that I knew his friend.  After we had closed down the bar, I then discovered that my Brazilian friend was sleeping on the bunk above me.  It was a fun last night in Munich.

On Monday, we slept in a bit before packing up and checking out.  But after that we hung out in the hostel, charging all of our devices and taking advantage of the free hammocks!  My friend and I went out to try and find me a dirndl (traditional Bavarian dress), but sadly I couldn't find one that I liked for a reasonable price.  :(  But we did find some cheap Oktoberfest souvenirs, and I found my keychains.  We stopped to get lunch at the train station, and as we were standing around eating, we saw a man stop by the giant Munich lion statue, put his bags down, and get a camera out.  I figured he wanted his picture taken, but no one stopped to help him.  So I volunteered, and he was very grateful. I walked back over to where my friend was, and when I turned around, the man was walking towards me with his camera again.  I started towards him, but he held up his hands and pointed the camera at me and took my picture, smiling.  It was a little strange!  We then headed back to the hostel to pick up our stuff so we could catch the train to the airport.  That bit was confusing!  We weren't quite sure how to get tickets or if we had purchased the right ones.  But we got on the train and made it to the airport alright (even if we might have paid a little more than necessary).  Once we got to the airport, I was surprised at how dead it was.  I was expecting something a little busier for an international airport, but we had no wait at check-in or security.  So, since we were there 2 hours before (like good little travelers), we had 2 hours to kill.  There was only one place for food near our gate, and it had limited variety.  We browsed the giftshops, and I found a tiny container of Nutella that was so cute I couldn't resist.  Then my one friend and I (who's family is also from the Mid-West) taught our other friend to play Euchre.  Soon enough we were boarding and finally headed home.  The flight was interesting, and I think we were flying very low.  It didn't seem like we climbed too high.  Flying back on British Airways was a relief.  We got a small dinner (Chicken Caesar Wrap) and of course free beverages.  It was much nicer than our first flight on EasyJet, and I didn't have to pay extra for my second bag! We landed and got in line for border patrol.  When I approached the desk, she asked for my visa and I gave her my St. Mary's documentation, and she got very confused when it said I was arriving Sept 11, and she asked if I was 2 months late... Yeah that's right.  But I explained and got through, with another stamp on my passport!  We then had to catch the bus back to campus and were riding for another hour.  We finally arrived to campus and were very much relieved to be home!

Side Trip to Rothenburg, Germany

On Saturday, we woke up early to catch a train from Munich to Rothenburg, a small, medieval town about 3 hours away.  Figuring out the trains was interesting, when the announcement were all in German, and I had to figure out where we needed to get off to switch trains, since we had 3 connections.  We almost missed a few of our trains because they were late arriving and we had very little time between trains! But we made it, and when we got there it was turning out to be a beautiful day.  We walked through the cobblestone streets to find lunch.  We went to a little restaurant that very much reminded me of my grandparent's house, for some reason! I'm not sure what it was, but it felt very homey!  I just had some soup, and my first apfelstruedel with ice cream. It was very yummy. :)  We had found a map, and after we ate we figured out what we wanted to see.  We started to wander around and explore a bit.  We found out that they were setting up for some type of run later on in the day in the city center, so it was quite busy!  We went into one of the famous Christmas markets, and it was insane! So much Christmas! I'd say we spent the better part of an hour in there, just looking!  They had anything and everything Christmas related, such as Nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes, giant decorated Christmas trees, the largest selection of ornaments I've ever seen, AND a German Christmas Museum!  We just wandered around taking it all in.  We decided against going in to any of the other ones, since they were so huge!  After that we wandered down and found a park with a great view of the countryside and part of the city.  We walked atop the wall and watchtowers that surrounded the city.  We found a sweet little park with an AWESOME swing (see my pictures!) and we played some.  We spent most of the day wandering around and finding some sweet secrets passageways and little courtyards.  We even found some cats!  It was a very pretty city, but there wasn't a whole lot to do (that was free anyways), so we headed back into Munich in the late afternoon.

Stop Five: Salzburg, Austia

We arrived in Salzburg in the dark and cold, and had a bit of trouble finding our way to the hostel, since the directions were a little vague. We found WiFi at a McDonald's and figured out where we needed to go. We checked in to the hostel, and it has been the best one we have stayed at so far. It was pretty big, but the people were friendly. We even met some Americans, Canadians, and Aussies we could talk to. There was one guy in our room who was particularly talkative, and he was interesting. The next morning we set off to explore the city. The hostel has a really nice map with suggested walking routes and sights to see. We started with the Mirabell Gardens (where parts of the Sound of Music was filmed). Then we crossed the river, which had gorgeous views. I wasn't expecting so much scenery and mountains. We found Mozart's birthplace, then wandered down some of the old streets and plazas. We saw a few churches and horse drawn carriages. It was so cute! Then we bought tickets to take the funicular up a mountain to see the fortress. The view from up there was spectacular! And the skies were clear and bright. It was really awesome. We walked through the fortress grounds and through the exhibits inside. It was a lot like the Tower of London. The view was defiantly the best part for me. After we descended, we found some lunch at a cafe. I had hot ham and cheese (served with ketchup!). We then wandered through a few more markets and shops and headed back to the hostel to regroup. We decided to try out a coffee shop the hostel suggested and do some homework. We went to the coffee shop, but it was not what I was thinking. It was a lot nicer of a place,but the coffee was super fancy! My cappuccino had a mountain of foam on top of it! We finished our drinks and went next door to another cafe that had vegan food for my friend. This was more of a homework place. I had another cappuccino (I was exhausted), but it was a "Mozart Cappuccino" and had his face in the foam on top, and caramel. It also came with a famous "Mozart-ball" which is a chocolate and pistachio truffle created in Salzburg. It was delicious. I also had some apple cake, which was like a cold apple cobbler. Then we (tried) to do some homework before heading back tithe hostel for happy hour and the showing of the Sound of Music! We got a beer and settled in to watch the movie. The bar tender was a strange man, and would come in randomly and make funny comments about the movie and talk to us. I ordered wiener schnitzel and fries for dinner while we watched. It was my first time actually watching the movie all the way through. After the movie was over, we got talking to some other American girls and a girl from New Zealand. We shared stories from our travels and were talking about Halloween, since it was Halloween. Austria was strangely not in to Halloween. Others European countries seem to celebrate it, but not Austria! We decided to go out to the Irish pub, since surely they would be celebrating. And they were! But it seemed that everyone's idea of a costume was just blood on their face and bodies, like a bunch of zombies. Not very creative! It wasn't the same, but we still felt better having celebrate Halloween somehow! The last day we slept in a bit (as much as we could, considering there were two Fins talking to each other in our room all morning!). We checked out, stored our luggage, and got some breakfast. We left to catch the bus out to Hellbrunn Palace and the trick fountains. It was a ways out of the main city and was very pretty. The palace was yellow and had some cool rooms inside. We got an audio tour, but I didn't use it much. Then we got a tour of the trick fountains. They were really cool and fun! They are a series of fountains that all have some sort of "trick" to them, and make include you getting sprayed with water (a few times). It was a lot of fun, except when you got wet, and it was chilly out! We explored to grounds a bit and found the pavilion used in the Sound of Music (seeing a theme here??). We headed back to town, got some last minute souvenirs, picked up some lunch and our luggage and made way to the train station. The ride to Munich was also very scenic and pretty. And we got to ride on the top of a double decker train! Next stop: Munich!

Mini Stop Four: Venice

Venice was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! The water and the buildings were sparkling, and it smelled like the sea. :) We were glad for the nice weather after our past few days of cold and rain. We had a two hour layover there, so we explored a little bit around the train station, took some pictures, and got some lunch. We sat on the steps of the train station soaking up the sun. I got a keychain and one last cup of gelato. Then sadly we had to board our train to Innsbruck which would take us to Salzburg. This train had coaches with individual rooms (like on the Hogwarts Express!) and that was pretty cool, until we got kicked out of our seats (we didn't have specific seat reservations) and we didn't know how that worked. So we were seatless for a while until we found some open seats. But the ride to Innsbruck was really pretty as we entered the Alps. Once we got to Innsbruck it was dark and cold, and we switched to our last train that would take us to Munich. It was a really nice train, and very roomy. After almost 12 hours of traveling, we made it to Salzburg.

Stop Three: Bologna

Bologna was probably my least favorite stop so far. It was a lot less tourist friendly than I had heard, and it was freezing cold. We stayed in a hotel though, and it was nice to have our own room and bathroom. But the hotel was in a sketchier part of town and was pretty far away from the center of town. After watchings She's the Man in Italian (with me dubbing everything), we made the trek down to the city center, checking out the gobs and gobs of shopping there was! So I guess it is a good place to shop rather than tour! We got to the main piazza where most of the sights were, and the medieval town. We roamed around a bit, exploring random alleyways and shops, while taking pictures of the churches, towers, and other old buildings. My day was made though when we found a cafe that had vin brûlée (aka HOT WINE!) Yum! So we stopped and had some and it was delicious. Then we checked out a place that my friend had wanted to try for dinner (that had gluten free options for her) but we discovered that it didn't open until 7:30, which we found was common for most of the restaurants in the town. So we wandered around some more and tried to find a way to kill almost three hours. It was hard, and it didn't help that it was really cold outside. We ended up siting in a McDonald's (which were everywhere there, which was strange) and entertaining ourselves with our iPods. Finally it was time for dinner, and we headed over to the restaurant. We stopped at a neat bookstore along the way that had three levels, with a restaurant on each floor. By then we were hungry and we went to dinner. We walked into the restaurant, noticing it was pretty fancy. The waiters all had on nice clothes, and they asked if we had a reservation. They took our coats before seating us and handing us menus. But the menus had no prices... Which is never a good sign. Randomly one of our menus had the prices listed, and we all about had heart attacks! Of course by this time we had already been served water and some biscuits (that we didn't touch). We didn't know what to do! Luckily we were the first and only people in the restaurant, so when the waiter disappeared, we put some coins on the table and made a run for it. As we were grabbing out coats and rushing out, we could hear our waiter calling behind us "What's wrong? What's wrong?" So laughing and feeling quite embarrassed we rushed out of the restaurant. What an adrenaline rush! We couldn't believe what we had just done! It was quite a memorable experience. We decided to go back to the bookstore and just eat at one of the restaurants there. The food there was still good and I finally had some moscato d'Asti! So with that we made the journey back to our hotel to hang out and rejuvenate. We got up early the next morning to make sure we got to the train station on time for our train to Venice. We got there with time to spare, and hung out at a cafe for a while. Then we went to find out train and said goodbye to my friend Chelsey, who was flying back to London as leaving us. Our train to Venice was late and we ended up standby around for quite a bit. But then we boarded and were on our way to Venice!