Vacation Pt. 4

Hello all. Katie here.
Our final leg of our vacation journey was to Barcelona. Barcelona is in Spain so the cheapest way to get there was via plane. We found tickets through RyanAir, a European air service, about two weeks beforehand. We'd been talking to Katie and at one point we must have told her that we were leaving form the same airport as her (maybe we thought there was only one international airport in Venice), so she was assured that we were leaving from Marco Polo Airport. We made all of our plans for the morning, Katie walked us to the bus depot to catch the airport shuttle, and we boarded the bus to go toward Marco Polo. However the other airport, Treviso, had a bus as well and we noticed as we were sitting down in the shuttle that the Treviso bus said RyanAir on it. So I pulled the tickets out of my purse and finally noticed, amidst all of the advertisements (RyanAir is really bad about that; they advertise literally any chance they possibly can) that our airport was Treviso. But the bus was already moving at that point so we had no choice to sit tight.

We figured by the time we arrived there would be no time to actually get to Treviso to make our flight so we immediately found a ticket counter and enquired about tickets to Barcelona. The next one that we could feasibly board, the nice ticket man told us, was through SuisseAir and would cost 300 something euro a piece. After I choked a bit and Rachael thanked him, we walked away and Rachael looked at the Treviso airport to see if there were any other Barcelona flights through there. The only one was our flight, but we noticed that the time had been moved up by about 20 or 30 minutes. So I look at Rachael and say, I think we should go for it. Let's see if we can find a cab.

We found a cab. It was expensive. But by golly he got us there in time and we were appreciative. We ran from the cab through the security gates. They looked at us with disbelief in their eyes but they let us through with one word of advice: Run. So we ran. First to the actual security scanners to throw our things on the belt. My boot got stuck and I think I nearly had a panic attack , but the scanner man got it for me. Rachael took off, expecting that I would catch up to her which I did. Then we scaled about three flights of stairs to reach the gate and the lady looks at me and asks if I have our boarding passes. So I yell back at Rachael to have them ready, and she arrives and flings them at the lady. This lady looks at us and simply says, "You're lucky." Another lady escorts us out there and points us to another man in a bright jacket in front of a RyanAir plane, telling us to be careful and not to rush. But as soon as she turns her back, we're trotting to the man and he waves us on the plane.

I have no idea really how we managed to make it in time, other than pure luck.
 

So we’re physically on the plane, the conductor is saying hello, and we’re trying to find seats. They’re not assigned and the plane is packed, so Rachael and I start to search for any seats anywhere. I find a seat next to a nice couple who offers me gum when I’m still trying to regain my breath—I couldn’t tell if they were just offering to be nice because gum helps with pressure, or if they thought I was about to have a panic attack, but either way the gesture was nice. Rachael ended up between a Portuguese lady and a Spanish man named Favio (Yes, I am not making this up) who started up a little romance with Rachael as their witness. There were no other complications with the flight, just seemingly endless advertising over the intercom. We landed and departed. Found the tourist office easy enough and they provided us with a map and directions to reach our hotel. From there we had walked toward the train which would take us to the city center and on the way there, a nice man on his way off the train handed us a 10 journey ticket with some trips still on it, so we didn’t have to pay for any sort of public transport for almost the whole trip. From the train we took the metro, and then we walked to our hotel, which started to seem a little sketchy as it was situated in a back alley.

 We had to wait for about 15 minutes before a man came to unlock the front door. It was a bed and beach house, with the office on the first floor and then multi-room apartments on the other floors. He gave us more helpful information for the metro and the bus, as well as good places to find groceries.

 After settling in, we found the store and bought all of the groceries! Well not all, but a good amount. With the setup of the room, we had access to a fully equipped kitchen and we took advantage of that to cook our meals in and save some money. They were also pretty delicious and all American. The first night we ate hot dogs, pre-prepared fried rice in a microwave container and canned corn, with pickles and Fanta. Our last breakfast there we ate the remainder of Dunkin Doughnuts and fruit. It was a beautiful food experience, ironically enough because we never once actually ate any Spanish food. But we did have gelati :D

 The first full day in Barcelona we wandered through the main streets and pretty much went sightseeing. And I mean literally. While walking toward the city centre, a Flemenca dancer or someone associated with them tried to offer us carnations for sale and when we didn’t respond positively she popped the carnation into Rachael’s shirt. Right down the collar, all the while speaking rapid Spanish. We tried to explain that we didn’t understand what she was saying, but I don’t think she understood us. Double whammy. Eventually Rachael detangled herself from the flower lady and we continued on. I think flower salespeople have a thing for putting their merchandise in inappropriate places so you feel compelled to buy them to make the salespeople go away faster…

This was a random statue in the park near the Bed and Beach House

This was a fountain on the walk to the city center

 

And this is a pigeon who decided the head of one of the fountain sculptures was the perfect place to rest for a while. I love it when they do that.

 

We visited a fortress-mansion from way back when, the gothic cathedral, one of the monument houses by Gaudi, and several museums. However they either charged more than we were willing to pay to go inside or (in the case of the museums) they were closing as we reached them. So we took in a lot of the street life and tired ourselves out. For lunch we found a great Asian place called Wok to Walk.

We came back a little early, feeling a little flattened from our day (this was the moment that gelati happened again, as well as doughnuts and coffee) or as the French would say “je suis crevé.” Rachael was also having random stabbing pains in her temple so we figured that it would be better for her to lay down and repose. We wandered back toward the guesthouse and hung out for the rest of the evening, spending a good chunk of time on the rooftop terrace, which offered great views of the city. (Rachael will have to add pictures of that because I forgot my camera.) We’d passed a zoo earlier in the day that was literally right down the block from where we were staying, and due to our lack of expenses the premier day, we decided to spring for it. Woke up early the next day, packed up our things, had the beautiful breakfast, and we went to the zoo.

And it was good.

 It was a fairly large zoo, larger than we’d thought it would be as it was tucked right into the city. They had a huge collection of animals, including gorillas and monkeys of all kinds, big cats, birds, safari grazers, elephants and giraffes, and various pygmy varieties. You can view the whole list on the website:  http://www.zoobarcelona.com/en/home/our-animals/index.html

But I figured I could give you some of the more unique photos we managed to capture that the zoo probably won’t have.

Tapir and her baby!

The lion den, which happened to be right next to the tiger's enclosure. He did not seem pleased with that when we went by, pacing right by the fence behind the bushes.

This would be a derpy little antelope thing. We watched him try to eat that leaf for a good ten minutes, and if that is not the face of victory, I do not know what is.

This was a bird who really wanted to tell us all about life and the strange devices we were holding in our hands. He was a great angry model for us.

Rachael and I nearly had a heart attack with the hyenas. We came up by the fence but we didn't expect to see one about a foot away from us, because most of that side was covered in shrubbery for privacy. So we both had a "holy crap" moment before taking our opportunity to snap a picture.

This would be the derpy llama we saw who just seems pleased with life.

Rachael was about as pleased when we found the elephants

Another bird who seemed highly intrigued in the cameras.

And probably the most adorable sheepish expression ever. But sea lions are experts at these.

Another mama and her baby. It was baby season at the zoo!

Mexican Grey Wolves, there were about four of them I think in the enclosure

The hippo! He was the last one we saw on our way out of the zoo

We walked by the bear enclosure before, but they were not in these positions before. Sometimes life is too much when you're a bear and you need to hide your head and sleep. I feel ya bear.

We left the zoo around one, collected our bags, and walked toward the metro. By the time we got off the metro, it was around 1:45-1:50, but by the time we actually made it to the train platform we had just missed that one at 2 (those tunnels are much longer then they let on), so we had to wait until 2:30. But that was fine, because we actually accounted for all of the possible setbacks and our plain didn’t leave until 5:30. So we got on the train to the airport, took an airport shuttle to get to the right terminal, and then we waited around until our information showed up on the board. Sat down for a little bit at the gate, but after 20 minutes or so, they started loading the plane, so we hopped on and made our way back to Paris.

We landed sometime around 9 pm, and after a bit of confusion with finding the Orly bus that would take us from the Orly airport to the interior of Paris, and the intervention of a nice Parisian ticket salesman, we found our way again. From the bus we took the metro back to our respective homestays, thoroughly exhausted but glad to have made it in one piece. We had school the next morning and a bit of catching up to do, seeing as how we technically missed the first day of classes back from fall break. But that went smoothly and now at the time of writing this blog entry we’ve got a little over a month until our return to the states. Yay America! :D

 

Also, a bit of extra happiness for me: Parvatie, Madame Mella's kitty finally returned from her vacation in the country! She is so adorable and affectionate it's not even funny. Maybe a little. Mostly I just want to pet her all the time, but then her hair gets up my nose, I sneeze, and she darts away wondering what that awful noise was. And the cycle repeats. <3

Vacation Pt. 3 (Also known as "You want to go to Lido?")

Venice!

So this lovely part of the vacation started with exciting happy panic time. We had the moment with getting on the train to reach the other station. Here's what this other station looked like:

 

Lovely sanctioned graffiti type art. Pretty interesting stuff. So then we got on the train and we were on the train for forever. Got off the train and it was completely dark outside. Tried to sniff out the tourist/information booth but that was closed. They did not have any maps either. There was a McDonalds though so I walked in to ask the cash register if they knew anything. I told her we needed to get to Lido and showed her the booking print out for our hotel. Her reaction: "You want to get to Lido? You have to use a waterboat for that! And those are in Venice." We tried to explain that we thought we were in Venice, and to ask how we got to the right part, but her English wasn't that advanced. We got that we needed to take ANOTHER train to reach a different station to find the water taxis that would take us to Lido. Which is an island in the vicinity of Venice. If you search Venice hotels and such, all the hotels on the adjacent islands will come out. So if ever you venture that direction, just keep in mind that possibility.

Now that we had this new problem we had to find another source of information. We searched for a station guard but there were none to be seen. There was a large crowd of people around a folk band having an impromptu concert so that was interesting but we didn't think any of them would be able to help us. We ended up walking around the back and finding some taxi drivers. Went up to one of them and asked if he knew specifics on how to get to Lido. Again

"You want to get to Lido? You're going to need to reach the water taxis for that."

Yes we know that. We knew that from the beginning. How do we get to those.

So he told us that we needed to get back on the train and go down to the next stop and we would be at the right station.

There was a kiosk in the station for tickets so we went to that, but there were five or so stations with the name of Venice plus something else. Finally I saw an official looking train man so I ran him down and nearly ploughed into some police officers. He was able to tell us the exact name for the station we needed, Santa Luccia. In the meantime Rachael got to help a nice British gentleman figure out the automatic ticket kiosk. We got our new tickets which thankfully were only a couple of euro a piece.

Finally we arrive in the correct station!

The ticket office for the water taxis is closed. Insert hair tearing out panic mode.

But we continue on through the station hoping that somehow they will still be running and we can buy some onboard. We discover another office outside right by the docks. A ticket was 7 euro one way, so that sucked in the long run with venturing to and from Venice and Lido. But we were happy to be on our way and we were hoping that the other Katie, whom we were meeting up with here hadn't filed a missing persons report.

We land on the island.

We cannot find a map.

 

We wander again, because what else could we do, and at the very end of the long station along the water, there is a map of the island. We are able to find the street we need but we don't know where it is along the street. So we walk. We find the road soon enough. We walk some more.

And some more.

And some more.

Finally as the final fit of desperation that probably would have broken us begins to set in, we reach the end of the street and the hotel.

 

It was a beautiful reunion and Katie was thrilled to see us alive and together.

 

 

This is Lido, the island we stayed on. Beautiful water, but too cold for toe dipping!

The rest of Venice was not nearly so traumatic luckily. We wandered a bit, because that's what we do. The city was beautiful with little channels all throughout the city and nearly everyone had a boat. Lido was a residential island so it was quiet and peaceful. Gelati happened quite often which shouldn't surprise anyone at this point, and we found breakfast at the grocery store nearby. In the actual city of Venice we found glass shops everywhere! Another nearby island called Murano specializes in making glass everything. Rachael and I were repeatedly drawn into the shops for the whole time we stayed there. This was also our last chance to buy leather goods because our plan to do a day trip to Milan fell through, for the same reason as Pompeii. And they said trains were cheap here....sigh...

 

But we were able to find leather shoe stores literally at the last possible moment, the night before our departure. We all managed to find a soulshoe though and we were so pleased! They are beautiful examples of leather working and I'm excited to bring them home so I can treat them and wear them ALL THE TIME! I had to wear them through the airport to the next leg of the journey and the whole time I wore them, they were completely comfortable and my feet never started to hurt. And they're brand new!!!

 

We also got really tasty pasta food but unfortunately Venice was even worse than Florence and they literally charged for water, for a cover charge, and for the service. At one point, we stopped for lunch at a pizzeria and I wasn't really hungry, so Rachael and Katie were going to order one each (they're not as big as the states, so they can be feasibly eaten by one person) and I was going to steal a bite or two. But as soon as we stated that we wanted two pizzas and that I wouldn't be getting anything, he told us that I had to order something or there would be an extra charge on the pizzas to share them. I think he noticed that all of our faces had turned to death stares so he took a step back and said "Don't be angry at me, I didn't make the rules." Yes, we literally had that moment. We were thoroughly fed up at that point, so we just got up and left. Found a food stand somewhere that satisfied us for cheaper than the other place would have.

 

We found a gallery to visit and that was an interesting selection of art pieces. Some second hand Renaissance paintings and then some really contemporary works and a room devoted to Jewish relics. We saw the outsides of some churches and basilicas but they charged to go in. And we went by the big museum there with Da Vinci sketches, but that was really expensive too. And in Rachael's words "When you can get into the Louvre for free, paying that much for a museum is just kind of ridiculous."

 

Pigeons taking a bath in part of a statue/monument

Mural in one of the back alleys of Venice

 

 So we shopped. A lot. I'm pretty sure Christmas is taken care of for all of our people. We also found a really great tea place with delicious little pastries and that served as a pick me up from all of the disappointment that was sightseeing floppage.

 

Voyaging from Lido to Venice

 

 

Also a fun moment with the owner of the hotel: I bought a small thing of toothpaste in Florence because Rachael had run out of her to-go bottle. But the top of it was sealed and we had no sharp thing to open it. So one morning we took the tube to the front desk and asked if he had some scissors that he could use to open it with, and he did. They did not work so he told us we could use a knife from the breakfast room to cut it open. But before we get very far he calls us back and says he has something that would work. Then he proceeds to open one of the desk drawers and pulls out a mini-saw. I think we were all like, "what the heck, where did he find that?"

But it did the trick. He looks at us then very intently and says "You have to throw that first bit out, yeah? It's no good."

So that was a beautiful moment, and the city was also very beautiful to walk through.

Of course at this point, we're all starting to feel the pinch of the constant travel and our clothes thoroughly smelled of suitcase. But the last leg was up and we mustered up some more energy. To Barcelona!

 

The last voyage from Lido to Venice. Lovely sight right, some kind of church literally right at the water's edge. Now look to the left....

 

 

I forgot to mention the first go around: So also on our last night, after all of the boot shopping we didn't know what to do with ourselves. It was still a little early for dinner, but all of the activity places were closing down. We decided to go back to the plaza by the canal and hang out, do some people watching, have a bit of a sit break. And in that period of time, a man came up to me with a bouquet of roses and tried to sell me one by sticking one between my thighs--I kept saying "no merci" and refusing to make eye contact until he walked away. We were all kind of like wtf after that moment, but then, not even 15 minutes after that incident, one of the light up flying sling toys that sales people were demonstrating hit me in the face. Right while I was talking. The man trotted over and apologized profusely while backing away until he was pretty much on the other side of the square.

I love salespeople. They really know how to charm their targets...

At least I was with people I could laugh with about the whole thing. And this isn't the only time this happens unbelievably. More in the next post!



Florence Pictures

Terrace at the hotel

Church in the village during the Chianti half day tour

Second wine tasting

Fortress village at second wine tasting

Rachael having a moment...sometime around the giraffe pictures invaded

Rachael having a successful moment of pizza consumption...and there was wine for lunch!!! :D

Pictures of Rome

Coliseum, complete with horse drawn carriages.

A section of the Coliseum mosaics that Rachael liked

View of the Roman Forum

Trevi Fountain 

Pantheon

Model of the Thinking Man in the Vatican Museum

 

 

Vacation Part 2

As Katie wrote the last one (though we both contributed) I (Rachael) am writing this post. Katie is with me though so you get us both. Yay you! So in our last post we covered the beginning of our fall break. Rome was wonderful and we loved it. Sadly think it ended up having the most positive experiences out of all of our destinations but the others weren't all bad. After Rome we went to Florence. Where they charge for going into churches and drinking water. Well pretty much if they could charge you for it they did. Our hotel ended up being right by the train station and the tourist office person was nice but definitely looked at us like it's across the street... So we went to it... and passed it... and almost passed it again. The reception guy was super nice though and we got a good sized room with a real terrace/balcony thingy. We were then exceedingly hungry and went to the pizzeria around the corner. We ordered a whole mushroom pizza and the man kept asking 'you want the whole thing?' which should have been a clue. It comes out of the kitchen and has to be cut into fourths and stuffed into a box. Needless to say we were stuffed and did not manage to finish it. But it was wonderful eating pizza out on our terrace and looking at the mountains in the distance and the cityscape.

After that we went to the Uffizi Gallery and saw lots of art. That was after a two to three hour wait though in line out front. There were two guys ahead of us and one seemed long suffering and the other was a chatty cathy. I felt bad for the quiet one since I got to listen to the other rambling at him... for the whole wait. So then we spent an equal amount of time in the gallery but thankfully got in for free with French student cards. Yay saving 11 euros! Then we sat in an outside gallery for a while before going to Pont Vecchio (a bridge of never ending sparklies). It was a bridge that actually had these medieval-type boutiques lining both sides and they are all jewelers. I drooled and will admit I went back all three days we were there. Then more gelati happened. It was beautiful and while we ate it we wandered down some shopping streets. And found a Disney store!!!! And then Katie saw Lindt bags that she recognized from the shop we found in Rome. I was in love and stood in awe in the middle of all of the chocolate. So then seeing the bags we went on a desperate search... but never found it. It was a great sadness in my life. So we slept because we couldn't face dinner after the pizza and gelati.

The next day we wandered to find a garden attached to the museum/ palace thingy of the Medicis family but since you have to go through the museum to get to it and all museums were closed because it was a Monday we didn't get to actually visit it. So we wandered a bit and then went on a Chianti tour and it was beautiful. The countryside was wonderful and I took too many photos and Katie agrees that that tour was what made Florence worthwhile. The first tasting we went to a charming vineyard nestled up in some hills and tasted their cheese and a dried sausage and balsamic vinegar and olive oil as well as 5 wines. We tasted a 20 year old balsamic that I about died from. It was too wonderful. Also since with each wine we got half a glass and didn't have a way to dump any extra before the next one we drank all of the wine and then tasted grappa (alcohol from pressed grape skins and it about lit your nose hairs on fire just from smelling it. Let me just say we all about died with the one shot we each got). After that amount of alcohol I will admit I was more tipsy than I think I have ever been. Considering this was had in under an hour. We now know I am a loving drunk and Katie just thinks everything's funny. We went outside after the tasting and took pictures of the countryside and each other and at one point I just stopped and put a hand to my chest looking at Katie and was like 'you are just sooo beautiful!' I'm not ashamed to say I doted on her multiple times and told her all about her beautiful eyes. Needless to say Katie decided I can never be alone with men when I have had too much to drink as I will tell them how beautiful they are and how we could have beautiful babies and they could take advantage of that. So yea... there is that.

Anyway... We went to a little village and found some little gifts after that and then we went to another tasting in a fortress town up on a hill that is pretty much completely preserved from medieval times. The lady leading the tasting was in love with it and very poetic. After that we were both exhausted and were glad to head back to Florence for the night. So when we got back to town we wandered to the main square with the gallery but couldn't find food there and just wandered down side streets and found a super charming little restaurant where I could see the chef through a window thing and we met eyes many times. Katie had yummy spicy penne and I had yummy spaghetti with tomato sauce and basil.

Our last day in Florence we went to the gallery that houses the David and spent a bit there but it didn't take too long. Then we went to a basilica and started wandering for food and Katie reminded me of a place I remarked on that we had passed earlier. So we found that and I had a whole margherita pizza and a glass of red wine and Katie had a big salad and a glass of red wine. We both remarked on the strength of Italian wine after this (and yes we know it was at lunch but we figured we would get wine if the price would be the same for wine or water) and wandered to find some shops. Eventually we made our way to the train station to catch our train to Venice. We settled in and then I randomly asked Katie to see the tickets. I then noticed that this indeed was not the correct train station... And we about freaked out but found a nice gentleman that worked there and asked him and he informed us that we had to catch another train to that station to catch our train and that it would leave in three minutes. And of course that was from the opposite side of the station. We trotted to the right platform and looked panicked enough when we asked the nice gentleman there if this was the right place and he was like 'yup. get on the train.' So we did and then thought about our strange luck in magically figuring this out in just the nick of time. We made our train and were on it for like 3 hours I think. As it got dark and we were in a compartment thing alone it got a little creepy and when we arrived at our destination we had been the only ones in our car for a while. Then Venice drama happened. But you get that tomorrow. So whoo!!

Vacation Pt. 1

Hello fair peoples that read this blog. Katie is writing this one but we are both contributing together for the next few blog updates. We apologize for our absence but as you can see from the title and as you may have been aware from alternative forms of interactions, we were on vacation! Yay vacation! The time of rest and retreat from the daily lives of school and Parisian life. Wait, that’s not what we did.
No we decided we were going to traipse all over Italy. And a little in Spain. So now we’re going to tell you all (not all, but most probably) about that delightful (sometimes not) experience.

 

We left from Paris on Thursday night for Rome. The other Katie darling was absent, choosing instead to venture to the capitol of pot and prostitution, ahem I mean Amsterdam on an optional school trip. We arrived late that night to the fair city of Rome, exhausted and slightly panicked because we had no idea how to get to our hotel. But we managed to find our way through the grace of an understanding Italian taxi lady.

 

Meanwhile! In Amsterdam, Katie was being propositioned by a strange French student also on the trip. There was not complete comprehension, but it ended with a surprise kiss on the stairs. Colonel Mustard. On the stairs. With a ham and cheese sandwich.

 

While in Rome we explored the Coliseum, ate a slice of glorious pizza from a metro kiosk, and then wandered through the Roman Forum. We attempted to view the Spanish Steps. Meaning that we arrived, looked at the hordes of people already occupying them, turned around and got gelati. That happened a lot actually. We tried to do something, it flopped, and then we had gelati. Then after a bit more wandering through back alleys, we came upon the Four Fountains and the Trevi Fountain, which was spectacular even through the hordes. We both tossed a coin in while the other took a picture to document. Rachael looked really nice in hers, very excited and pleased with herself. Of course mine came out like a goober and I’m hoping that evidence was promptly erased.

Our last stop of the day was the Pantheon where I think Rachael would have moved in if she’d been given the option. It was a pretty amazing space though with a hole in the top to let in a beam of sunlight. There was also an automated voice that would come on every five minutes or so telling everyone to be silent in like eight different languages. Yet they were still ignored.

In between all of the sightseeing we did a bit of shopping. The back alleys of Rome really have the best shops, very interesting and eclectic. There was a woodshop and a ceramics clock boutique that Rachael would have bought out if she had unlimited sources of money. There was a lot of agony before she finally succumbed to the siren call (the next day—she held out for 20 hours or so, so we’re quite proud of her.) All for the investment of the future, so we can’t feel too guilty. And it’s pretty :D

 

The next day we had grand plans to hit the Vatican Museums and then trot down to the train station to buy tickets to Pompeii. So we found the entrance and wandered in (Yay reduced student tickets!) where we were amazed by beautiful/interesting artifacts of ages past. It had every kind of art genre in some form represented, a great place for museum junkies.

There was a great tragedy though….

We were approaching the end of the museum route, rushing a bit because we didn’t want to miss the train to Pompeii. The whole time we’d been following signs to the Sistine Chapel: the grand goal for this museum venture. We arrived. Rachael admired and took a moment to fully take in the glory.

I was confused. Rachael and I walked out into a strange sad gray hallway whereupon I say

“Wow this is weird. I thought we were getting close (to the Sistine Chapel) but I guess we still have a ways.”

“Katie…we were just in it.”
“What?! I thought that was the antechamber!”

“Nooo…did you not hear the people saying ‘Silence, this is a sacred place’? ‘The creation of Adam’ was right in the middle of everything.”

“…Dammit…”

 

So that required some grieving time, but not too long after we were on our way to the train station. Where we encountered another sadness.

Through various inconsistencies and unfortunate happenings, the train tickets ended up being too expensive to swing. We got in line to talk to someone about this, to see if there was a cheaper option. But it was a “Take a number” kind of line.

The line of neverending sadness. We waited for an hour, during which we acquired more pizza. It was not good pizza. Well as good. Rachael says it was because it was a kabob place, and if we have learned one thing in Paris, it’s not to trust the kabob places. I guess that holds true for kabob places anywhere.

So we got some gelati and then went on a consolation shopping spree through Rome. This would be the time that Rachael purchased her flamingo sweater dress. There are many other happy things, but you will know them in more detail at a later date (like Christmas!)

We caught a train to Florence the next morning and we shall cover that experience in the next post. A toute à l’heure!
P.S. Photos to come soon <3