California Here We Come!: August 2014

So I finished my exams August 7th (I passed all my classes, praise God!), and my wonderful sister arrived in Florence that afternoon. Pretty happy day:) Then I traveled for two weeks, first with my sister to Croatia. We bused to Ancona, which was a crazy adventure in itself... attempted hitchhiking was involved as was lots of walking and waiting haha, then took a night ferry to Split. We did split, a day trip to Hvar, and ended our trip in Dubrovnik. Then I flew to meet my mom in London, Meggie flew home. Mom and I did London for two and half days and Ireland for the rest. Mom and I did Europe right haha. Nice hotels (and or castles!!), amazing food, and driving stick shift on the left side of the road through Ireland viewing the most breathtaking natural landscapes you've ever seen. There are SO MANY crazy stories and so many good times to write about that it overwhelms me to think about. I therefore decided to do a summary of my trip and add random stories when needed:) Oh and pictures of course!

Last night with all my roomies at our favorite gelateria

These pictures are very out of order:/ These two are from the Guinness factory in Dublin, our last day of the trip.

Cliff Jumping, Yipppeeee

These are all from Croatia. I tried to take a picture but Meggie just kept making me laugh! And yes, we did go cliff jumping:) Dats me in the air!

The garden outside Kensington Palace

Hop on hop off bus tour in London, lol

Big Ben baby

Best store advertising ever... ICECREAM

Buckingham Palace

Mama, ready to run Ireland

Cliffs of Moher

"I'm on top of the world, eh"

Castle number 1

Castle number 2

West Coast Ireland

Kylemore Abbey

Castle number 3 (my fav!)

I like to take walks whenever we arrive at a location, all the castles had amazing grounds to explore. I found these horses in a huge open pasture. I got spontaneous, hopped the fence, pet them and photographed them. It was really fun:) And one kept passing gas, I was dying laughing.

Made a few friends in Dublin

He now has 10 pigeons he cares for. I got to meet them.

Watched the sunset with my girl Meggie on top of a mountain in Dubrovnik

Paris was a great way to spend my last official weekend in Europe. Although I get to travel with Meggie and then Mama, this weekend was my last weekend free in Europe for my study abroad program. Finals Thursday, and then it's over and everyone leaves:( Anyways, I'm trying to live in denial so movin on. Okay, back to Paris. I was told by many that Parisians are rude and hate tourists, and being an American tourist would be kind of hard. That was not the case for me. Personally I love the Italians and think they are warmer in general BUT the people in Paris were not super mean as I had expected. We arrived Friday evening and waited for Katelyn at the airport. Me, Mac, and Katelyn made our way to our hostel, dropped our bags, and headed to the Louvre. I had heard it was free for students on Friday nights so I was all about hittin that up. It was truly breath-taking. The museum is huge, and just gorgeous! Not to mention all the famous and wonderful art you get to see inside. We arrived at sunset which was also just incredible. After our visit to the Louvre we headed to dinner and then went to bed fairly early because we were all super tired.

Saturday we did Notre Dame (both climbing to the top and going inside), the Eiffel Tower, love lock bridge, the Arc de Triomphe, and just explored around the streets of Paris. We also made our way to La Basilique du Sacre Coeur, which was a hike. It was beautiful though and gave us a look at a different side of Paris. It did start pouring rain while we were inside though and people were trying to find shelter but the church stairs became so crowded I was feeling majorly claustrophobic and couldn't wait to start walking again. When the rain slowed, we got our umbrellas out and started the climb back down. Mac and I found a super cute store to buy our scarves in. We had said we really wanted to buy scarves in Paris and so had been on the lookout all day. I had researched traditional yet cheap restaurants in Paris and picked this place which ended up being a perfect walk from our hostel. This place was packed! A favorite for locals and tourists a like. It is in a big ballroom and the feel is very unique for sure. We got so many noms and some wine and went ham on that food. It was so great. Then after.. we um, well we got crepes.. and well.. then we got gelato. LOL. We were all so on board for all of it though, it was pretty great. And we had a skimpy lunch and walked a ton, so it was all good. Right?!

Sunday was free museum day! Once a month on a certain Sunday, the museums of Paris are free and we lucked out being there for that. So we went to the Orsay where we saw some amazing Renoir, Monet. Then we headed to the orangerie musee to see more Monet and some pretty cool Picasso pieces. We also got to see a local car show (my first thought was that Papa John and Nate-dawg would have LOVED to see it!) I took a few pics to show them when back home. We also went to the Tuileries garden, walked around, and then visited a famous cafe: Angelinas. We got the most expensive, but most incredibly rich and delicious hot chocolate EVER. The place was recommended to us by a friend and we figured we give it a try. It was a beautiful tea house and was a cool experience, despite the absurd prices. We went back to the Louvre (we were so close at the gardens) to just walk around, people watch, and rest for a bit. Then it was time for Katelyn to head back to the airport which was super sad. I will not see her until Thanksgiving, so saying bye was tough for sure.

Monday, it was just Mac and I. I had signed us up for a bike tour which does some of the big touristy sites, but is known for showing you the back streets, history you don't hear as much about, and seeing a more quiet side of Paris. It was almost four hours and was such a blast! I learned a bunch, met some really neat people, and saw some really neat areas of Paris. After the bike tour it was time to start the hours of travel ahead of us. We made it home successfully though:)