My trip to the continent! (A month summed up in two posts) Part 1.

Haiku-a-day:

May 12^th

Shall I compare thee

To a summer’s day?  No, Leeds,

Thou art very cold.

***Today's***

May 13^th

Each flash draws its own

breath, creating life for all

to see.  Picture perfect.

     A few things.  First of all, happy Friday the 13th!  Second, Blogger has been extremely annoying for the past two days.  Something went wrong with the system (not just mine) where I couldn't post anything.  It was in Read-Only mode while they were fixing the problems, so don't think I was neglecting you all and not posting just for the heck of it!  I have made some progress on the tales of my April vacation, so here is the first half of the month!  Yay, tons of reading for you!  =)

     But before I dive in, I'll sum up what's been going on here lately.  On the 12th, Leeds was cold!  Plain and simple.  Madison, why do you get to be warm?!  I am quite jealous.  To all my friends in Madison taking finals right now, good luck!  I'll be joining you and adding a "I'm a Senior Now" status to my facebook in two weeks!

     Today I bought a new camera!!!  I bought the same exact kind I had before (Panasonic Lumix) just because I know it's a good camera and I still have the charger for it so don't have to use an adaptor for it when I go home to the U.S.  It all works out.  It still kind of sucks, though, that I had to pay for the exact same camera twice!  I am going to be sooo careful with this one!  No thieves are going to touch it!  And just because I'm super excited about my new camera, here are the first pictures taken with it!

  My room!  A little messy!

  My dinner tonight!

     

     Now, time to catch you up!  Beware, since this post is sooo long, I haven't re-read it to proof-read it, so if there are spelling errors or sentence fragments, just bare with me and pretend I wrote everything perfectly! 

     Please listen to this while reading.  I found it inspirational and it set the mood perfectly when I was talking about exploring Paris.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4huZYzOD8Q&feature=related)

April 2^nd

City of high walls,

small dogs, and beautiful art.

I’m in Paris, France.

     We left Leeds around 9:20AM via bus to travel to London.  The bus ride was as usual, a bit cold and uncomfortable, but it's a pretty good way of traveling if you want to show someone a country.  The sights aren't as good this route as they are for going to Lake Windermere for example, but it still shows a glimpse of what England is like.

     Everything was pretty easy up until we got to London.  We had to quickly go from Victoria coach station to the Victoria Underground.  Our train was going to leave from St Pancras Rail Station, so that meant that we had to take the Tube from Victoria to King's Cross.  With a bit of running and map checking we got there in plenty of time, made our way to St Pancras, retrieved our rail tickets, and got something to eat.

     The next leg of our journey was spent on the Channel Tunnel or "Chunnel" going from England to France.  The train was very smooth, but the pressure that builds up when in tunnels was a bit much at times -- we had to do a lot of yawning!

      The French countryside is stunning.  Mom and I are both decided on that.  As tired as I was, it was worth not napping just to see the land.  When we pulled into the station, we were in Paris at Gare du Nord, wondering what to do next.  This was the first time since I moved to England that I was in a country where people didn't speak English.  Our first guess was to find an info booth and see how far away we were from our hostel.  Guess what?  All closed!  We ended up buying a map and hiring a taxi. Our hostel was a ways away, over in the Montmartre area.  It was a hostel/hotel and the man at the front desk was fairly rude.  We came to realize that a lot of people in France were rude...a subject for another time.  After settling into our 2-bed room (which had a shower but no toilet and a TV that didn't work) we headed out for dinner and to have a look see at the Montmartre area.  We ate near Sacre Coeur at a Piano Bar.  Specialty: crepes!  I got a nutella-banana crepe with red wine and mom got a jam filled crepe with kir.  Everything was delicious, the place was very cool (every inch of wall and ceiling filled with all types of money/pictures/notes/etc.), and live piano music!  The only thing was that when I took a picture of the cook (whose station was a few feet away from out table), he came over to us and told us no more pictures.  I thought he was joking, turns out I was wrong.

     After dinner, we walked around more, then discovered Sacre Coeur!  What a beautiful place!  But before we went in, we noticed tons of people staring away from the church.  We were curious and confused as to why people were not paying attention to the beautiful building behind them.  We soon figured out why.  It was 10:00PM.  From atop the high hill where Sacre Coeur sits you can view the vast city of Paris, miles upon miles.  From this high point, we saw the wonder that drew every person's attention: a lit up and sparkling Eiffel Tower!  Gorgeous, stunning, shining out as a beacon in the dark, alighting a city.  It only lasted another minute when we finally saw it.  In total, it only sparkled as it did for five minutes on the hour.  When it stopped, it still shown out as the brightest point in the skyline.  I was so happy to have seen it then.  What a highlight for the night.

     We quietly toured Sacre Coeur as a service was being held, then looked around the area a bit more.  We ran into four young men who could speak French and English.  After a short chat ending in two of the kissing me on the cheeks and getting pictures with both mom and I, we headed back to the hostel.  Quite a long day.  Eleven hours of traveling!

April 3^rd

The sun sets, night comes

in the distance shines a light

the Eiffel Tower.

     We bought metro passes and headed out to the Louvre on this bright Sunday -- Mother's Day in England.  Apparently not in France though.  However, this being the first Sunday of the month, the Louvre was free!  We got there at a terrible time though.  We arrived at about 9 or 10 and the lines were beyond unbelievable.  Thousands and thousands of people stood around the courtyards of the Louvre waiting to get in.  We learned that the wait would be about 2+ hours to get in, so we decided to save it for another day.  Now with free time, we decided to walk down the Champs Elysees, climb up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, visit Norte Dame, St. Germain, and St Severin.  One of our goals for France was to EAT, a lot!  We stopped at many creperies, ate gelato, delicious hot cocoa, etc.!  We achieved our goal, I would say.

April 4^th

Mama bird’s song stops.

She flies from the nest to sit

alone in the hall.

     We woke up early today, took the metro to the Louvre and as we were approaching it, we asked a woman jogging by if the entrance was near or if we had to keep walking.  She informed us, incorrectly, that it was closed.  The Louvre is only closed one day a week -- Tuesdays -- and it was a Monday.  We were confused, but we took her word for it and headed towards the Eiffel Tower instead.  We got to the Eiffel Tower in great time.  We didn't have to wait in line very long.  The view from the top is extraordinary.  I'm quite happy we went, even though it was really cold up there.  We didn't take the stairs up, but we did on the way down.  Soooo many steps!  Also, we had beignets in the E.T.'s cafe.  Yummy!  =)  We were still confused about the Louvre situation, so we asked a couple other people who confirmed our first belief that the Louvre was open on this day, so when we were done at the E.T., we went back there.  We ate lunch at the Louvre (a bit expensive but good, too much food!) and then spent the next 4 hours there.  It was cool to see the Monna Lisa and Venus de Milo with my own eyes.  

April 5^th

Up to Monmartre,

The people swarm to find the

Art fair on the square.

     This was one of my favorite days in Paris.  After the previous day's extensive walking, we slept in until 10AM and went out for breakfast at Angelina's.  They've got the best hot cocoa we've ever tasted.  It was REALLY expensive, so everything we ordered we split, but that's ok.  We were pretty full when we left.  After breakfast, we headed back to the Montmartre area where we hung out for the rest of the day.  We spent tons of time at the art square watching people paint, looking at all the handmade art, and looking in every souvenir shop we came across (and there are many!).  We stopped several times just to eat because we could!  We stopped at a restaurant because they had creme brulee and chocolate mousse. We stopped at a couple creperies, a gelato place, and a shop where they sold beignets.  Definitely too much food, but this was Paris, how could we resist?!  

     If you thought that my food stories for this day were done, that would be a big nope.  After we were done looking at the art square, Sacre Coeur (again), and the souvenir shops, we headed back to the hoste, changed, and caught the metro to the docks near Notre Dame where we had tickets for a night boat cruise, dinner included.  It wasn't dark enough for it to qualify for a night boat cruise, even if it was about 8:30PM.  We had hoped to see more of the Parisian lights at night, but that didn't really happen.  The best part of the night was what we did after the boat cruise: we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower!  We got there just in time to see it sparkle up at 10:00PM.  It was gorgeous and a great way to end our last night in France.  

April 6^th

False expectations

can be detrimental to

even the best day.

    An early start to the day today.  Our shuttle to the airport picked us up at 6:00AM.  We flew from Paris to Vienna, Austria.  Our flight was good; they gave us free drinks and sandwiches.  I've never been on a shorter flight that gave you food like that!  They also showed Mr. Bean cartoons and other funny shows.  When we landed, we had a bit of difficulty getting from the airport to the hostel.  We had to take a bus to a certain part of the city and from there we had to take the metro to a stop close to our hostel.  When we emerged from the metro, we found we didn't have any directions to where the hostel actually was.  We asked around several times and everyone led us in wrong directions.  After finally finding the A&O hostel in Vienna, we decided that even though it was a huge pain to find it, it was a good hostel, so it was worth it.  Our private room was awesome.  It was just like a hotel.  We had our own large bathroom, two very comfortable beds, and a TV.  The common room downstairs was very cool too.  It was spacious, had comfortable couches, a "library," a computer area, and a pool table.  It was slightly noisy, but that didn't bother me too much.  

     While on the computers, we found a deal for seeing a concert at the Palace with dinner and admission to tour the Palace.  It was a bit pricy, but this was why we came to Vienna, it was the city of music, so we had to do it.  We bought the tickets and rushed over to the metro to go to the Palace.  The first thing on our new itinerary, after picking up the tickets, was to tour the Schönbrunn Palace.  They gave us free audio sets, so as we walked around, we listened to a history of each room and the objects within.  It was very cool.

     After the tour, we walked around the gardens and then stumbled upon the Marionette Theatre House.  It was very neat to see all the little dolls strung up.  Next, dinner time!  Dinner at the palace!  The service was ok.  Our head waiter was a little stiff, but the waiter who delivered the dinner was nice and asked us questions and told a joke.  We discovered early on that people in Vienna are not the nicest.  Most of the time we found them to be plain rude.  Back to dinner at the palace: mom loved her meal and mine was pretty good.  We had apple strudel for dessert, now that was good.  

     The main event of the night was soon approaching, so we headed over to the concert hall.  It was an orchestra playing songs by Mozart and Strauss in the very theatre were Mozart actually played when he was in Vienna.  We had been told by the woman I bought my tickets from that they hadn't sold that many tickets, so even though we had "C" class tickets, we could sit in "A" and "B" class rows.  We were quite excited about this.  However, when we got into the concert hall and they started allowing people in, we were forced to sit in the "C" section (about 11 rows back).  We appealed to the woman seating us and told her what her boss had told us, but she refused to allow us to sit further up.  When everyone was seated, there was PLENTY of room for everyone to move up quite a bit.  It was ridiculous.  We were disappointed and our expectations for that night had been dashed.  The woman, as is common in Vienna, was quite rude about it.  Very impatient and uncaring.  Best part of the night was going back to the hostel's comfortable bed.


April 7^th

How did a man like

Mozart find inspiration

in a place like this?

     We did more city exploration today.  I decided that I didn't like Vienna very much.  It's not the prettiest city, the people are rude, and everything is very expensive.  We did do a few fun things though. First we went to Stephansplatz cathedral.  It was ok.  It was a bit too dark and overly decorated.  After the church, we walked to the Haus der Musik, a music museum.  We spent several hours there.  It was very interesting and interactive.  I actually learned a lot.  Next, we proceeded to tour one of the last standing houses that Mozart used to live in.  We took an audio tour of it.  I liked the house.  It was hidden away behind a maze of streets, though, so it was hard to find.  

      We had to be back at the hostel by about 6PM so I could register for my senior classes on the hostel's computers, so we left after finishing up at Mozart's.  I got into 2 of the 4 that I wanted, but no worries, as of right now I got into everything I wanted that had previously closed.  Some of those classes are competitive to get into!

       We wandered around for dinner, finally found a place, but the people were rude, so it wasn't the best night.  

April 8^th

Communication

is key to maintaining a

good relationship.

     Ahh, the day we left Vienna!  This was a marvelous day.  Both mom and I were happy to get out of Vienna.  Perhaps other parts of the country are better (prettier, nicer), but not this city.  Ireland was such a change!  The first night we were booked in a hotel!  We had originally booked a hostel through STA Travel, but it fell through, so they put us in a hotel for the same price!  The hotel was out in the middle of nowhere in Dublin (quite literally, there were fields and horses surrounding the hotel!).  It was absolutely gorgeous though.  The huge lobby had two restaurants (where we ate dinner as no other restaurants were near -- my bangers and mash were delicious and mom's stew was wonderful) and our room was perfect. We had a large flat screen TV and two very comfortable beds (one king size and one twin).  

     There's not much to report on this day as most of it was spent traveling between Austria and Ireland and the hotel was surrounded by nothing but fields, so we stayed in and watched TV -- a brilliant night!

April 9^th

Authentic Irish

music and dancing filled the

small but still packed pub.

     Quite an interesting day!  Breakfast in our hotel was good.  A little pricy, but filling.  We packed up, took the shuttle back to the airport where the rest of our tour group was to meet.  Would you believe it, we met about 5 more Wisconsinites!  Who would have thought?!  Out of everyone in the world in all the places people could travel to and all the tours they could book, we met about 5 more on our tour!  It gets better though!  Later this same day we met two more people who live in Verona (right next to Madison) and who went to the UW!!  I think they said they work at the UW as well.  How funny!  We kept in touch with them throughout the whole tour.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  

      The day's funny events continued when everyone boarded a large coach to be dropped off at our hotels.  The bus we were on was picking up people from 2 tours, so it had 2 hotels to go to.  The driver was the guide for the other tour.  He pulled up at this GORGEOUS hotel and told those of us on my tour to get off there, so 6 of us unloaded and walked in.  It was jaw-dropping amazing.  It was a 5-star hotel.  The chandeliers were elaborate, the floors shiny, it even had mini displays everywhere, like a mini museum.  Everything got funny when we tried to check in though.  They knew nothing of the guide that was supposed to meet us and in fact, didn't have reservations for us!  Well, the other driver had dropped us off at the wrong hotel!  This hotel was one of the most famous in all of Dublin, so it's odd that the other driver hadn't realized this.  

     One of the women negotiated everything for us -- she got us a taxi, had the other hotel notified, talked to the CIE tour people about the mistake that had been made and how frustrated she was.  Mom and I got to know her and her granddaughter very well during this tour.  Her name is Barb and her granddaughter is Sarah.  The 5 of us were very glad that we had Grandma Barb to negotiate everything. 

     We made it tour our real hotel after taking a taxi.  (Barb was reimbursed by the company, so don't worry!)  Ours was not nearly as grand as the first, but it was still nice.  We had dinner with Barb and Sarah and then the tour was to begin.  We all signed in, received name tags and loaded a bus to take a tour of the city.  The bus assigned everybody a different seat everyday, so you got to know the people you sat around.  By the end, I could name half the people on the tour bus (there were 44).  You were moved in a counter clockwise way and so on the last day, mom and I made it to the VERY front (seats everybody wanted!), but we had to give them up to the Verona couple because the guy was carsick and it was less bumpy in the front.  So we never actually got to sit in the front beside on the morning we were dropped off at the airport in Shannon at 6:00AM, but that hardly counts!)

     Anywho, I'm diverging.  The bus tour was neat.  We saw the major stuff: the spire, Trinity College (didn't get to go in and see the Book of Kells though *sad*), statues of "Famine," etc.  We did make a stop at the Dublin Castle though.  We took a tour of the castle and church.  Quite neat.  At this point, I was the only person selected to sit on a Royal Throne!!  That's right, I sat on the very same throne that true kings and queens sat on!  It was surprisingly comfortable, beany almost!  Also, that same throne was used in the show "The Tudors" and Peter O'Toole was the last person to sit on it!  I sat on the same throne as royalty AND Peter O'Toole!  Double win.

     When the tour was over, we had an hour or so to rest at the hotel before being bussed outside of Dublin to go to a very cute pub for dinner, The Merry Ploughboy.  There, we all gathered in a back room where 2 tours converged.  We got to choose one free drink, so I had my very first Guinness in Ireland.  After dinner and dessert (which was all delicious), three men performed traditional Irish music for us.  They are three out of the 5 members of the band of the same name as the restaurant.  They were phenomenal!  After they were done, dancers came in and performed for us.  They were also amazing.  Mom was selected to go up and dance with them!  Hilarious!  I had it all on video, so if my camera had not been stolen, you would have been able to watch all of it.  The band came back after the dancers were done.  They did a few more famous songs ("Danny Boy" and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling") and we were served Irish coffee!  A wonderful night.  Irish beats Austria hands down.  The people are soooooooo much nicer and the land is amazing.  So pretty.

     Click the link above to listen to some of their music.  Also, here are some YouTube videos of them performing.  I LOVE them!  They're so good!  And they do a terrific version of "Danny Boy."  Now I wish we had bought one of their CDs when they were offering them to us!

April 10^th

I kissed an old stone

from atop a tall castle

May wishes come true.

     Breakfast at the hotel was amazing.  A wonderful selection of fruit, pastries, meats, and cheese, eggs, beans, etc.  Our seats on the bus had moved to the VERY back of the bus (we hit both extremes!).  Our friends Barb and Sarah were towards the front.  Today's trip was to Cork to see Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone, a piece of rock attached to the top of the castle for which you would have to lie down on your back and kiss it upside down while being held by someone to make sure you didn't fall).  The grounds of the castle were beautiful.  Flowers were in bloom, the grass was green, and everything was in order.  The castle was a little worse for wear, but at least it still looked like a castle.  Dublin castle, for instance, didn't actually look like a castle.  

     When the day's touring events were done, we headed to Killarney where our new hotel was.  We had plenty of time before dinner, so mom and I, Barb and Sarah, and two others from our tour group decided to take a horse-drawn carriage ride.  The ride was wonderful.  We rode through streets, through woods, along lakes.  We saw a little bit of everything.  We passed a beautiful little house with a thatched roof.  Our horse, Jack, is a star.  He was in the movie Pride and Prejudice!  How awesome is that?!  

     We walked through the small city after that and visited two of its churches (both named St. Mary's).  I bought my usual souvenirs (magnets).  Then came dinner.  The hotel's dinner is wonderful.  There were two CIE tours staying at this particular hotel, so it was set up that we ate breakfaster earlier than them, but at ate dinner earlier than us (not the best deal, I might add).  But dinner was tasty and company plentiful.  We ate with Sarah and Barb and had a wonderful night.  Oh, and along with the buffet style dinner was the buffet style dessert table...you can only image how much we ate!  =)

April 11^th

A drive through the ring

of Kerry turns all eyes to

the beautiful cliffs.

     On this day we toured the Ring of Kerry.  We got to see how truly beautiful Ireland is.  Not that I didn't appreciate it before, but after this day, I wanted to stay!  The first stop was to a farmer's field where we got to see a demonstration of sheep herding.  It was wonderful.  The dogs were soo attentive and obedient.  The farmer made them perform ticks -- having the dogs separate two of the sheep from the rest or directing the sheep to one side of the field, then the other.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  

     Next we did the Skellig Experience.  You can read more about it by clicking on the link provided.  We toured the small museum, watched a movie about how monks wanted to live on an island, away from the world, so they found one that was nearly pure rock (as in no vegetation) and spent generations carving into the rock.  In the end, they were still invaded by the Vikings.  

     For lunch we were bussed from the island where the Skellig Experience is to the mainland.  The small restaurant was cute, but expensive.  I was really disappointed with my food.  I ordered roast.  We were the last 4 served (mom, me, and two sisters traveling together) and my meal was like this: two pieces of thin-cut roast where there was more fat than meat and TWO sides of potatoes.... I was not a happy camper.  However, after an hours drive, we took a bathroom stop in a small town where they had delicious ice cream cones, so that helped make up for my nasty lunch.  

     On the way back to Killarney, we drove through Moll's Gap.  Apparently it's called this because the woman named Moll wanted to charge people to drive through it.  It's on the Ring of Kerry route and in it you can view the mountains of Macgillycuddy's Reeks.  Very beautiful and very windy!

     Back at the hotel, I took a bath in the jacuzzi.  So nice!  Clean and dressed up, mom and I headed downstairs for dinner with Sarah, Barb, and the rest of the tour group.  It was slightly different from the day before but had the same basic sides and desserts.  After dinner mom and I used the free computer at the hotel.  This is when I found out I had been selected as a finalist for the short story competition.  I was ecstatic.  At a hotel in Ireland is a good place to receive good news!  I felt on top of the world that night.

April 12^th

It is amazing

How close you come to others

In such a short time.

     Our last full day in Ireland.  Today's destination: the Cliffs of Moher.  They were pretty.  It was cold and a bit windy.  It's amazing how one hour and go by so fast.  That's all the time we had at the cliffs, but we used it all up fast.  We didn't even go that far on the cliffs which extend 6 miles.  We walked up to the first look-out point on the western side and then went back to the eastern side where a small castle-like look-out was.  We paid 2 euro to go up and it wasn't worth it at all.  That was disappointing.  When we climbed down, we got ice cream, then headed back to the bus to go to our new hotel, the Bunratty Castle Hotel near Shannon.  It was a neat hotel, very pretty, but a little hard to navigate.  Dinner time: we all gathered in the lobby, boarded the bus, drove across the street, and got off the bus.  Yes, our dinner was in the Bunratty castle across the street, literally.  Our bus driver/guide Dermot had told us stories of previous years where it became dangerous for that many people to cross the street together, so nowadays he just loads everyone in.  However, he doesn't stay for dinner and doesn't pick you up afterwards, so...

     Dinner in the castle was a Medieval Banquet!  We were ushered upstairs into a beautiful room with large tapestries and old cabinets.  People in costume played music and handed out honeymead wine.  After some music, an introduction, and explanation for how the night would unfold, we were ushered back downstairs to where the banquet would take place. 

     One man had been crowned king, so he and his family sat at the "head" table.  As it turned out, mom, Barb, Sarah, and I were seated next to them.  The dinner was composed of several courses and the rules were that you had to eat with your hands!  It was quite fun, though my ribs were a bit too hot to touch for a little while.  They served us: soup, plenty of white and red wine, chicken with tons of vegetables on the side, and a small dessert in a cup.  When everyone was more or less finished, people in costume sang for us for about a half hour.  Everyone was escorted downstairs and served coffee and tea.  

     The night was not quite over for us yet though.  Our wonderful foursome decided to have a drink at the bar connected to the hotel.  Other people from our tour joined us.  It was a nice little event.  When mom and I were ready for bed (we had to get up early the next day and we still had to pack, so we didn't want to be up too late) we said goodbye to everyone, exchanged emails, etc., and went back upstairs. 

     It was a good day.  Ireland was amazing.  Our driver Dermot was amazing as well.  Extraordinarily funny with tons and tons of stories to tell.  

April 13^th

Three countries and four

cities in only one day.

No more planes please.

     Bad haiku, yes; am I going to fix it, nope.  Mom and I got up at 5:00AM.  The two of us and the two sisters we had lunch with a few days back were the only people on the tour leaving at 6:00AM.  Dermot drove the 4 of us in the tour bus to the airport.  This is when we got to sit in the front seats finally, not that we could see much as it was still dark outside.  

     Mom and I said our goodbyes at the airport and I headed out to my Aer Lingus flight from Shannon to London Heathrow.  This was the first time I've EVER travel completely by myself!  I've flown either with friends or family in the past.  This time, 100% solo.  My first flight was slightly delayed, but not by too much.  On arrival in London, we got off the plane and took a shuttle bus to where we could catch our connecting flights.  I thought everything would go smoothly, but I was wrong.  At the security checkpoint, they flagged my carry-on and I waited 45 minutes for them to take out everything I had in my bag, unroll all of my clothes, and dump out all of my toiletries.  Of course they didn't find anything, however, they did choose to throw away my face wash, a nearly empty bottle of face lotion, and my expensive $18 brand new bottle of "It's a Ten" heat protection spray (for when I straighten my hair).  Now that didn't take the whole 45 minutes.  I waited for 40 minutes while they checked other people's flagged luggage before they got to mine.  It was such a pain.  Thank goodness I had tons of time left before my next flight.

     After I was able to recollect and repackage my belongings, I had to wait another 20 minutes to get my boarding pass because the woman at the check-in desk was being extraordinarily rude.  Although she wasn't doing a single thing but sitting in her chair and occasionally talking on her personal cell phone, she refused to check me in.  I HATE Heathrow.  I never want to fly in or out of there again.

     When I could finally head upstairs to the main gates, I had tons of time, so I found a restaurant and ordered a pot of tea.  It took the waiter forever to bring me the tea and when he did, he only brought the pot, no cup.  After waiting another 5 minutes for him to return, I finally was able to flag him down and ask for a cup.  He looked embarrassed (as he should be), but then it was my turn as I accidentally attempted to pay in euros instead of pounds.  What a day so far!

     Next my flight was delayed.  Again.  Joy.  We didn't board until the time we were supposed to take off.  Not sure what the problem was...

     When that flight landed in Rome, I had a very short amount of time to get to my connecting flight since we got in late.  By this point, I was starving, so I stopped in at a restaurant, ordered a slice of pizza (it was a BIG slice!) and scarfed most of it down in less than five minutes before I took off again to catch my 3rd and final flight of the day.  

      As was the pattern of the day, this third flight too was delayed, you want to know why?  It broke down!  It was before we had even taken off.  We waited inside the plane for over an hour and a half with no food, no drinks, no TV.  They wouldn't even tell us what was going on or when the problem would be fixed.  So, instead of arriving in Florence at 6:30PM, I got arrive at 7:45PM, then had to grab a cab to drive across the city to the hostel where I was supposed to meet up with the gang (Roxanne, Leah, Liza, Melissa, Stephanie, and Chelsea).  That was the scariest cab ride I've ever been in.  Not because of the guy's driving, but because the fare went up 10 cents EVERY 10 seconds.  I kid you not.  I counted.  I sat there clutching the arm rests, watching the amount rise, praying we'd get to the hostel soon.  He started the cab fare automatically at about 3.50 euro (I forgot to check when I first got in to make sure I wasn't already getting ripped off...) and by the time we ended at the hostel, I owed him 21 euros.  Argh.  

     When I checked in, I paid nearly every cent I had on me (my last 4 euros spent on dinner), and went to drop my bags off in my room.  To my surprise, I ran into my friends on the way!  They were waiting for dinner (and for me to arrive).  So I stayed downstairs, spent the rest of my cash, and joined them for dinner.  It was one crazy day.  But I made it.  In a single day, I had been to 3 countries and 4 cities!  Shannon, Ireland.  London, England.  Rome and Florence, Italy.  Three flights and tons of dashing between terminals.  It was nice to be in Florence with my friends and catch up with them.  

      To end my funky day, one of the girls staying in my room that night saw me in my PJs, a UW-Madison shirt with Bucky on the front, and she asked me if I was from Wisconsin!  Turns out she goes to UW-Milwaukee!!  Again, what are the odds?  Even better, some of my friends encountered people they knew from the home in Florence in this particular hostel.  It was a night of crazy, impossible encounters, teaching us that the world is a smaller place than we realize.  

     And thus ends the first half of my one month adventure to the continent.  More to come later!  In the meantime as you wait for me to hurry up and finish these long (hopefully not boring) tales, I discovered yet another British band that I LOVE!!!!!!!!  They're from Manchester, where I just visited.  They're called Take That.  I was listening to the Leeds radio station the other day and heard this song.  I fell in love with it immediately, looked it up on Google and YouTube and have had it on repeat on my computer ever since.  Please enjoy!  =) 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCHg5r6rFoI)