Scotland

After a wonderful trip to Southern France, I returned to Dublin and had a soccer awards night dinner/banquet on Wednesday, April 28th. We ate at the Avenue Restaurant on Main Street in Maynooth and enjoyed a delicious meal (all paid for by the school! not too shabby!). It was so great hanging out with my soccer team one final time, and I already miss playing with them! I am so fortunate that they welcomed me to the team so warmly. It was such a wonderful experience!

Then, the following day, I left for Scotland for another weekend trip with Pat (from April 29th-May 1st). Scotland ended up being my final destination outside of Ireland for the rest of the semester. We spent the majority of our time in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city. First we went to Edinburgh Castle, which is located on a huge hill called Castle Rock that overlooks the entire city. The castle can be seen from basically any point in the city...so cool!





Then we walked along the Royal Mile, a mile-long road leading up to the castle, until we found the Elephant House, a cafe dubbed "the birthplace of Harry Potter." Apparently JK Rowling would often go there to write her books.


On our way back to the hostel, we walked through a park at the bottom of the castle and took an amazing postcard-worthy picture of the famous Edinburgh fountain looking up to the castle. Sooo pretty!


The next day, Friday, we took a bus tour to the Scottish Highlands from 8am to 8pm. The scenery of the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland was absolutely incredible! We made a few stops along the way for some great picture opportunities, and spent a good amount of time at Loch Ness. "Loch" means lake, and Loch Ness is the lake where the LochNess monster was supposedly spotted.







On Saturday we took part in the 3 hour Free Walking Tour of Edinburgh (by the same company that did the amazing tour in Paris). We learned all about the history of the city, and even had a bagpipe parade interrupt along the way haha. We learned about Greyfriar's Bobby, a dog that became famous for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray. Today, a small statue stands in the city to commemorate the loyalty of this great dog. Our tour guide was hilarious, so we had a great time learning and laughing about some of the historical facts of the city.

So, Scotland ended up being my last big adventure of the semester, and it certainly was a wonderful trip! The month of May was kind of a drag because the 10th-14th was a designated Study Period to prepare for exams, and then I had 6 exams over a span of 3 weeks! It was pretty rough...luckily Pat and our good friend Brendan came to visit for a couple days to give me a study break. We went to Phoenix Park, one of the largest walled city parks in Europe (1,750 acres!), and then explored Dublin a bit more. We also got to visit some of Pat's relatives, Joe and Una Johnston, just outside of Dublin. They were so hospitable and kind! They cooked us a HUGE and DELICIOUS meal, then took us for a stroll through the nearby Dublin Mountains that overlooked the city, and then brought us to the Merry Ploughboy Pub for some traditional Irish music. It was such a great atmosphere and a wonderful visit!

Sooo, I finally finished exams on May 26th, and after saying bye to all my new Irish and other international friends, I flew home on May 29th. I was welcomed by my amazing family at the airport, and my brother even got me flowers! How sweet! It certainly is strange being home, but I am so glad I returned in time for Memorial Day weekend and all the parades and cook-outs that come with it.

I had an incredible semester abroad and am so grateful for such an amazing experience! I literally have friends and contacts from all over the world now (Ireland, England, Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Korea, South Africa, etc.). I am so grateful!

Volcanoes aren't very Nice!

Okay, so as of May 29th, I am back in the US of A! Kinda weird, but nice to be home. Here are a few more updates that I failed to post during the semester...

So my last post was about my family coming to visit for Easter Break. We had an absolutely wonderful time together, and I was very sad to see them go. We made it to three countries in only 10 days, so needless to say, I was pretty exhausted by the end of the week. So, the following weekend, April 16th-18th, I stayed in Maynooth to relax and catch up on some schoolwork. Turns out I chose the perfect weekend not to fly anywhere because of the crazy Iceland volcano that decided to erupt and disrupt travel plans for thousands of people! I'm SOOO fortunate I didn't get stuck in another country! Oh, and the volcano's name is Eyjafjallajokull...yea, good luck pronouncing that!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that on Wednesday, April 14th, my soccer team played in the Challenge Cup Final against Belfast and we WON 2-1 in overtime! We were totally outplaying them the entire game, but we just couldn't score. We were down 1-0 with a few minutes left, then Smurph (Sarah Murphy) came in and pounded the ball into the net to tie the game 1-1. Then we won it in overtime after a great match! We were awarded the champion cup and gold medals for our success! Pretty phenomenal.


Then, the following weekend, from April 22nd-24th, Pat and I traveled to Nice in Southern France (my third trip to France). Nice (pronounced like "niece") was very nice haha! I know, I'm funny...get the title of this post? Lame but fun hahahaha. Okay so...the French Riviera was absolutely beautiful! We explored Nice a bit on Thursday afternoon and then took a day trip to Monaco on Friday. Monaco is technically its own country, and it's where all the rich celebrities go to vacation! It is referred to as the "Las Vegas of Europe" due to the Casino Monte-Carlo. It is also known for its famous Grand Prix motor racing. The country was so beautiful and full of amazing views of the Mediterranean Sea and coast. It is a very elevated city, with lots of layers, as you can see in the following picture:


After wandering around a bit, we moseyed on into the Casino Monte-Carlo just for fun.


It cost 10 euro just to get into the casino, and we didn't want to pay, so instead we found a little side room that is apparently used for people to "warm-up" before they enter the main casino. It's free to play there, so we checked it out and decided to test our luck haha. After only about 20 minutes playing poker on one of the machines, we ended up winning 50 euro!!!!!! It was sooo cool! We were happy enough with that, so we cashed in and left haha. That was a fun first gambling experience for me hehe. After feeling pretty good about ourselves, we continued to wander along the coast and had some amazing views:







Then we attempted to find our way to the train station to head back to Nice, and we got a bit lost...okay, we were wandering aimlessly for about an hour and a half, as it got darker and colder and rainier...eek not cool. We miraculously stumbled upon the train station just in time to catch the next train haha. Overall, we had a very successful day in Monaco.

On Saturday, our last day in France, we explored more of Nice. We had absolutely perfect weather, so it was lovely just strolling around and observing the beauty. We hiked up to the top of "Le Chateau" for a spectacular panoramic view of the city and sea. The pictures we took were definitely postcard material:

Waterfall at the top:

Then we walked along the Nice pedestrian zone, or "zone pietonne," full of souvenir shops, street entertainers, musicians, news stands, bookstores, and more, until wandering to the beach to stick our toes in the COLD Mediterranean Sea...the beach was surprisingly rocky, not the greatest for laying on the sand, so we sat on some benches to enjoy the view...oh, and we did indeed see one topless woman! Ahhh! At least it was only one person...we expected to see more, cuz ya know, nude French beaches are pretty common, but luckily we only saw one haha...





Then we headed to the airport, marking the end of a fabulous and relaxing weekend.

Easter Break with the Family!

I am so fortunate that my family was able to come visit me for Easter! Read on to hear about our amazing week together!

Friday, April 2^nd

Mom and Dad arrived in Maynooth around lunch time. Pat and I met them at the GlenRoyal Hotel, only about a 15 minute walk from campus. We took them for a stroll through downtown Maynooth, where we grabbed a quick lunch. Then we walked around South Campus, and I showed them all the beautiful, old buildings. After a lovely afternoon of exploring town and my campus, we spent some time at the hotel pool, which is super awesome! It has a fountain inside the pool, two hot tubs, a sauna, and a steam room. After a relaxing time at the pool, we all went to bed nice and early so Mom and Dad could recover from their jet lag.

Saturday, April 3^rd

Geoff landed at Dublin Airport at 5:30am, and we met him at the train station in Maynooth around 8am. Then everyone excluding Geoff got breakfast at the hotel, while Geoff took a nap and tried to beat his jet lag haha. Around 11am we jumped in the rental car and drove to Dublin. We started the day by going to Dublin Castle and touring around the grounds, learning about the history. Then we walked to Trinity College to explore the beautiful campus, and then headed to the Guinness Storehouse for a long tour of the factory. After touring the storehouse, it was raining, of course, and we didn’t want to walk to our next destination in the cold rain, so we took a horse and buggy ride to Arlington Hotel, Temple Bar. It was awesome! The horse was named “Jack from Iraq” because if a bomb exploded right next to him, it wouldn’t phase him…what a great horse haha! We grabbed dinner at the Porterhouse Pub and got burgers bigger than my head! Delicious! Then we headed to the Temple Bar where we enjoyed some traditional Irish music and dancing. My friend from NUI Maynooth is a competitive Irish dancer/performer, so we went to see her. It turns out she was the star of the show! The costumes were beautiful, and the dancing was so cool! I want to learn how to dance like that! After a longggg day of touring Dublin, we headed to bed.

Trinity College:

Irish Dancing (my friend is in the purple, right in the middle!):

Sunday, April 4^th – Easter Sunday!!!

We went to Maynooth Community Church, the little church I’ve been attending since the beginning of the semester, for a lovely Easter Sunday service. The music and sermon were all wonderful, as well as the time dedicated to the initiation of new members. There were about 10 people who wanted to become official members of the church, so they shared with the church their favorite Bible verses. Then the church welcomed them as new members, and there was even a baptism of a young girl. It was so wonderful! My parents got to meet all the amazing church members afterward during the tea and fellowship time. We mingled for a while, and my parents enjoyed a lovely conversation with John and Miriam, the couple who invited me over for dinner the first week I attended the church. So great! Then we headed to the Roost, a popular pub in town, for Easter dinner. We got huge portions of delicious food, accompanied by free desserts. We sat and mingled at the restaurant for a while, enjoying each other’s company. I’m so glad I got to spend Easter with my family after all!

Monday, April 5^th

We left Maynooth nice and early to drive about 3 hours west to Galway. Props to Dad for driving the whole way on the left side of the road! He got the hang of it pretty quickly, thankfully. We were so grateful that Pat had his Blackberry with Google Maps on it. It totally saved us as we tried to navigate through the beautiful Irish scenery on some tiny, narrow, windy roads! Some parts were kinda scary to drive through – it was quite the adventure. We first headed to the Aran Islands, and to get there we had to drive right along the coast for about an hour. The scenery was amazing. We stopped for a quick lunch at this adorable joint right on the water, and got seafood chowder and soup. Then we caught the 1:00 ferry to the Aran Islands. It was SOOO windy that the ferry ride was incredibly bumpy, and I got super sea sick! Ewww! …but, once we made it to land, I was fine. We took a bus tour throughout the entire island, learning some cool facts along the way. The island is only 9 miles long, and has over 7000 miles of stone wall! There is also one bank on the entire island and it is only open one day a week haha. There is one supermarket too! Such a tiny and adorable place. We hiked up to a fort called Dun Aengus for an incredible view of the island…it was so WINDY that we literally had to hold onto the stone walls just to climb up! Kinda scary but awesome! We returned on the 5pm ferry – thankfully a smoother ride, but then we got soaked in a downpour returning to the car. We had to drive about an hour in our wet and cold clothes to the Bed and Breakfast where Mom and Dad spent the night. It was absolutely lovely and incredibly clean. Mary, the owner, was so hospitable and she even dried our clothes for us! Yay! After checking into the B+B, we then had to find the hostel for me, Pat, and Geoff – google maps said it was a 9 minute drive away – well, it turned into an hour drive for us, even with Google Maps! Ridiculous! Galway City is so intricate, it’s like driving through Boston….and nothing seems to be marked, so it was a nightmare trying to navigate through the city, especially in the rain during the night. We eventually found the stupid hostel, so we dropped off our luggage, and then headed to McSwiggans, the restaurant that Mary from the B+B recommended. It was absolutely delicious! Dad was able to get his roast lamb that he wanted the entire time, while the rest of us enjoyed our meals as well.

Tuesday, April 6^th

We left Galway City around 9am to head about an hour and a half farther south to the Cliffs of Moher – absolutely breathtaking! We lucked out with weather…warm, sunny, and amazing views!

From the Cliffs of Moher we headed farther south toward Cork, where Pat had to catch a bus back to Dublin Airport for a late flight on Tuesday night. Thanks to his phone, we were able to find the bus stop just in time. So he hopped on the bus back to Dublin, while the rest of us found a nearby Bank of Ireland. Since the fam arrived on Good Friday, all the banks were closed…then they’re all closed on Saturdays, and of course they were closed on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, so my fam couldn’t exchange any additional US dollars to euros until Tuesday! So we finally exchanged their money, then headed to Blarney, where we hoped to visit Blarney Castle. We arrived at Blarney Castle at 5:30pm, parked the car, quickly used the restrooms outside the gate, and then headed to the entrance to buy our tickets. Turns out they stopped admitting people at 5:30…and if we had just went straight to the entrance upon arrival, instead of using the bathroom, we would have made it! But it literally closed while we were peeing! Ahhhhhhh! So we attempted to find our way to our next B+B and hostel combo, but got hopelessly lost. We stopped at a gas station to ask for directions, where we encountered a man who offered to drive us the whole way to our destination!!!!! He took us on some crazy route to the hostel, a route where we would have had no clue how to navigate on our own! He was super friendly and patient with us, acting as a tour guide and taxi driver haha. We tried to give him some money to thank him for his hospitable service, and to pay for all the gas he used up in the process, but he absolutely refused to accept it. I was initially upset that we didn’t have a GPS to guide us around, but if we had one, we would have never met this super nice man and all the other lovely Irish people we met along the way in search for directions hahaha. So we finally arrived at Sheila’s Hostel and the Gabriel House B+B to check in and drop off our luggage, then found an awesome Gourmet Burger place for dinner. Cork isn’t as quaint and cute as Galway, but it was still nice to see another area of Ireland.

Wednesday, April 7^th

Today we drove 3 hours northeast back to Maynooth, and we actually made it without getting lost haha. It was imperative that we get back in time so we could make our flight to London, where we met the Brittocks – some family friends from long ago. We had a wonderful visit with them in Maidstone, England. When we first arrived we were invited to their house for a lovely assortment of salads and finger food. So yummy!

Thursday, April 8^th

Today we took the “Park and Ride” into the center of Maidstone and enjoyed a traditional English breakfast (fried eggs, bacon, baked beans, hash browns, a flat mushroom, grilled tomato, sausage), then we explored Maidstone a bit – an adorable town. We walked along the pedestrian mall and along the river, then returned to the Brittocks’ house for tea and coffee before driving to Rochester to see Rochester Castle – started the building process in 1066!!! Super old! Super cool! After that we headed back to Maidstone for our dinner registration at 7pm at the Sir Thomas Wyatt Beefeater Pub – incredible!!!! We enjoyed a lovely meal with great company.

Friday, April 9^th

Woke up at 5am (ahhh early), Brittocks picked us up at 6am, and we headed to Ashford Station to catch the high speed Eurostar train through the channel tunnel (chunnel) to Paris!!!! It goes under the English Channel straight to France. Super fast! Super smooth! Dad has never been to Paris, so we had to go! When we arrived, we checked into our hotel and then started our tourism craziness. First we went to Basilica Sacre Couer, then hopped on the metro here and there to visit the Arc de Triomph, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Louvre (and saw the Monna Lisa). It was a jam packed day of awesome site-seeing!

Saturday, April 10^th

We spent most of the day at the Palace of Versailles, where he had an awesome picnic (cheese and ham baguette, crisps, wine, soda for me) in the palace gardens, surrounded by fountains, green grass, and white statues everywhere! It was so cool! Then we explored the inside of the palace – the most luxurious thing I have ever seen! King Louis XIV certainly lived in luxury! Then we returned to the Eiffel Tower for one last look. We took the stairs up to the first floor during daylight, surrounded by clear, blue skies, and by the time we hiked up to the second floor, it was dark, and the Eiffel Tower was lit up beautifully! We caught the first light show at 9pm, during which the tower looks like it is sparkling, as white lights flash all over. This light show occurs every hour on the hour, so we caught the 10pm show from the ground, on our way back to the metro. I never knew that there are shops and restaurants on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. We hung out for a bit in the café, admiring the amazing engineering of the architecture around us.
It certainly was worth it to return to the tower by night and see it and the surrounding city all lit up.

Palace of Versailles

Sunday, April 11th

We had an early flight from Paris back to Dublin. We had to take the metro then the RER train to Charles de Gaull airport, and because of some delays on the train, we just barely made our flight! I’ve never cut it so close getting on a plane! Our departure time was 10:25am, and we were still waiting in the line to go through security at 10:20am! We had to sprint to the gate and hop on just in time! Phew!!! In Dublin we enjoyed a delicious lunch at O’Neill’s Pub in Maynooth, and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Monday, April 12th

My family flew back home bright and early. I miss them so much, but we certainly had quite the trip!!!!! 3 countries in 11 days, full of site-seeing and quality time with the fam. I’m so grateful they were able to come visit! This visit marked the halfway point for my study abroad experience – the perfect time for them to come and get a taste of my life here in Ireland. Love you family!!!!!

Munich

I spent the weekend after my spring break, from Thursday, March 25th to Saturday, March 27th, in Munich, Germany. Pat and I traveled to Germany to visit Mike Burns, one of my brother's college friends who, after graduation, found a job in Germany and has been there ever since! He is now fluent in German (pretty impressive!) and was a great tour guide, showing us all the popular sites around the city.

On Thursday afternoon, Pat and I landed at Memmingen Airport and took an hour and a half bus ride to Marienplatz, the city centre. We lucked out with absolutely perfect weather! Clear, blue skies and super warm! We walked around aimlessly, finding cool things to do as we waited for Mike to meet us after work. So we climbed to the top of the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) for a great view of the city. The building is absolutely gorgeous, built between 1867 and 1908 in a Gothic Revival architecture style. We then climbed to the top of St. Peter's Church, the oldest church in Munich, for an even better view of the city down below. The original building dates back to the 8th century (!), but unfortunately most of it was destroyed in a fire. The current building dates back to the 14th century.

The New Town Hall:

St. Peter's Church:
View of the city down below - we were pretty high!

After admiring some amazing views and sites, we met up with Mike, and he gave us a great walking tour of the city. For dinner we went to the famous Hofbräuhaus restaurant for some traditional German food. I got steak with gravy and these amazing potato things haha. I was also introduced to a type of soda called Mezzo Mix, a combination of coke and orange fanta...sounds weird, but it's now one of my favorite types of soda! ...and they serve drinks in these humongous liter sized glasses, enough for two people, so Pat and I split a liter of Mezzo Mix haha. Yummy!

On Friday, while Mike was at work, Pat and I took a 2 hour train ride outside Munich (right near the Austrian border) to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle! So cool! It was built in the 19th century as a personal refuge for King Ludwig II. The King was a huge fan of Wagner's operas, so the castle rooms were modeled after the opera and had stages for opera performances. There was even a cave room - with stalagmites and stalactites haha. So cool! Unfortunately, the King died under "mysterious circumstances" before the completion of the castle, so many of the interior rooms still have not been finished.

When we arrived at the castle site, home to Neuschwanstein Castle and a smaller castle called Hohenschwangau Castle, we bought tickets to see both. The tour times required that we visit the smaller castle first, and then trek up to Neuschwanstein. Soooo we spent the first part of the sunny, gorgeous afternoon at Hohenschwangau, built in the 19th century under the direction of King Maximilian II as a childhood residence for his son, King Ludwig II. I guess the whole castle thing runs in the family! It was really cool inside, but we were more eager to see Neuschwanstein, which, for purposes of typing and spelling, I'm gonna call "The Stein" for now on haha. Unfortunately, when the small castle tour was over, the clear skies turned cloudy and dark. Nooooo! We hopped on a bus up the windy, narrow, bumpy road to see The Stein, and by the time we got to the top, it was pouring! Huge bummer! ...but, Pat and I were tough and spent some time on the nearby bridge for an amazing view of the castle. We then hiked up a path to get an even better view, and when we reached the end of the path, it started hailing! Ahhhh! The skies had opened and we were drenched with rain and huge hail balls! We had to literally sprint down the hiking trail and through the castle grounds to reach the castle for some shelter. We were totally soaked, cold, and uncomfortable. Looking back now, I can totally laugh about it all haha because it was pretty ridiculous. Getting hailed on as we admired a gorgeous castle in the woods in Germany?!?! Pretty hilarious.

Hohenschwangau Castle:

Notice the blue skies?

Neuschwanstein Castle - the blue skies are gone!

Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle - see the resemblance???

Notice my wet hair and coat???

So anyway, as you can see from the pics, The Stein was absolutely breathtaking, and I'm so glad we had a chance to visit it...rain or shine.

On Saturday, our last day in Munich, we had a traditional German breakfast, consisting of white sausage and huge soft pretzels. It doesn't sound like much food, but I was full after only 2 sausages! There was this adorable old German man sitting at the table beside us, and we were shocked as we saw him finish 2 whole platters of sausages (something like 12 sausages! Ridic!). We then spent the afternoon exploring more parts of the city. We went to the Frauenkirche Cathedral ("Cathedral of our Blessed Lady"), referred to as the "booby church" by Mike haha - take a look at the two top structures and you'll see why...According to legend, this church is home to the Teufelsschritt, or Devil's Footstep, at the entrance. There is a footstep in one of the floor panels, which is supposedly where the devil stood. None of the side windows can be seen from that spot. Kind of a weird story if you ask me...After more walking, we stopped for some delicious apple strudel and hot cocoa before heading to the airport.

Aerial view of the two towers of the "booby church"

This was a more relaxed weekend, and Mike showed us some great hospitality! We didn't have to struggle to find our way around or deal with the awkward language barrier encounters. It was great!

Also, by the way, it never really occurred to me that Daylight Savings Time happens at different times throughout the world (duh!!). So, for a while, when the U.S. "sprung forward" one extra hour, Europe time remained the same. So, for a short while, I was only 4 hours ahead, one hour closer to home! But, as of March 28th, when Europe celebrated Daylight Savings, we are once again 5 hours apart. Fun fact for the day!

And....we had a stinkin snowstorm on March 30th! Crazy! Just when I thought Irish weather was improving, I was shocked to see snow. However, I can't complain because now the weather is truly gorgeous!

Tour de Italy

I spent my spring break, from March 13th to the 20th in ITALY with my friend Maria, from BC, and her family. It was an incredible week, full of amazing food, fantastic weather, and incredible hospitality from the Cardiello family! We literally traveled all over the country, starting in Venice, then down to Rome, then down to San Rufo (where Maria's dad grew up), and finally to Florence. Traveling around with Maria's family was by far the BEST way I could have seen Italy. It was also super helpful that her dad is fluent in Italian - no communication barriers to worry about!

So, on Saturday, March 13th, I flew from Dublin to Venice, where I met the Cardiellos at the hotel. I was pretty proud of myself for finding my way from the airport to the hotel on my own! I had to take a bus then a ferry (vaporette) because Venice is all canals! Just the short ferry ride from the bus to the town was incredible - so scenic! I saw a bunch of gondolas too, which I think are the coolest things in the world!

I had very specific walking directions that brought me directly to the front door of the hotel (which was gorgeous! compared to the icky hostels I've been staying in, this was truly luxury!! the bathrooms even had towel warmers...). Good thing I copied the directions from the hotel website because otherwise I would have been so lost! The streets in Venice are very narrow and tucked behind tall buildings. I arrived about 45 minutes before the Cardiellos, so I hung out with the hotel receptionist and took advantage of the free internet until they found the hotel. Maria and I literally screeched when we saw each other. We were reunited after many weeks apart, and in Italy of all places! It was magical. We settled into our rooms and then went out for an amazing dinner - definitely one of the best meals I've had since being in Europe. For appetizers we got eggplant covered with cheese and anchovies (I picked off the anchovies of course haha, and I surprised myself because I actually enjoyed the eggplant!), artichokes (first time trying those, and they were yummy!), and a seafood platter (I tried some shrimp, which was delicious because it was incredibly fresh and didn't taste too fishy). My main entree was gnocchi, a type of heavy pasta, with tomato sauce. Mmmmm you could totally tell the tomato sauce was homemade - such an amazing flavor! After dinner we walked through Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) at night - spectacular architecture and night view along the canal. It is the central landmark of Venice and dates back to the 9th century. My camera stinks at taking night pictures, so I couldn't capture the beauty for you all to see...sorry! After admiring some breathtaking views, we headed to bed.

On Sunday, March 14th (Happy Pi Day hehe 3.14), we went to mass at St. Mark's Basilica in Piazza San Marco. Although it was in Italian, it was still enjoyable, and the church was beautiful!

It's a bummer part of it had scaffolding...

Later that afternoon we went to Gallerie dell' Accademia, a museum full of gorgeous works of art from the 1700s. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around Venice, taking advantage of the perfect weather. We took some awesome pics...



As dinner time approached, we headed back to the hotel, where Mrs. Cardiello cooked a delicious meal - it totally reminded me of my mommy's amazing meals. We had tomatoes and mozzarella, pesto bowties, chicken and mozzarella, and salad. Mmmm! After we ate our full, we walked through Piazza San Marco and Rialto Bridge at night. The lights reflecting on the water were so pretty, but of course my camera couldn't capture the beauty. Then I got my first ever gelato - tiramisu and nutella = amazing combination.

The gelato place we went to was adorable, and as we enjoyed our treats, Maria's dad kept trying to hook Maria up with the guy who scooped our gelato hahahahaha. It was hilarious! Maria's response: "He looks like he's 12!" I don't know how old he really was, but for the rest of the trip we referred to him as "the man-boy" who Maria's dad loves hehe. So fun!

On Monday, March 15th, we said our goodbyes to Venice (sad!) and hopped in the rental car (which was a nice BMW - my first time riding in one oooo!), and drove about 5 hours from Venice to Rome. Good thing we had a GPS because as we approached the city, we encountered some crazy, windy, NARROW roads! Luckily we found the hotel, Hotel Portoghesi, another beautiful one right in the center of Rome - perfect location! Rome welcomed us with absolutely incredible weather - clear skies and warm sunshine - I didn't even need my coat! We first explored Piazza Navona, one of Rome's city squares from the first century AD and a former competition arena.

Then we found a Trattoria for dinner, where I got my first REAL Italian pizza! Of course it was delicious, and I took a picture of it hehe. I really love their tomato sauce - it sets it apart from home pizza. After another filling meal (I'm currently salivating as I crave to have this food again!), we walked to the top of the Spanish Steps for a great night view, then got more gelato for dessert. This time I went with raspberry and vanilla with chocolate chips - another great choice!

The next day, Tuesday the 16th - all I can say is WOW!!! It was a longgggg, jam packed day! We woke up nice and early and found our way to the Colosseum (after consulting with three different cops who didn't know any directions and just stood around in groups - Maria and I enjoyed taking pictures of the cops just hanging out not doing anything productive haha). We explored the inside of the Colosseum too - it was huge and so cool! As you can see from the pictures below, the view of the inside is of the rooms underneath where the stage/floor would have been. We even spotted a kitty in the Colosseum haha. We spent a good chunk of time there, taking tons of pictures and enjoying the view of the city from the top.



Then we stopped by the Pantheon, built as a temple to the gods of Ancient Rome and now used as a Roman Catholic Church.

Bummer it had scaffolding too...

Then for lunch I got an amazing Pizza Primavera - it was loaded; looked like an entire vegetable garden on my plate! Then we trekked over to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The church was absolutely humongous and gorgeous - I can't get over how beautiful and ornate all the churches are throughout Europe...the churches are some of the best tourist destinations! We even went into the basement area, where the tombs of many deceased popes are located. After our sneak preview of the Vatican, we headed to the American Bishop Center to get our papal audience tickets for the next day. Then we enjoyed another great meal. I got cannelloni (meat and sauce stuffed in long, thick pasta). Finally, we walked to Trevi Fountain, the largest Baroque fountain in the city, where I threw in some coins...legend has it that if you throw in a coin you are guaranteed a return to Rome someday...I hope it comes true. Sooo today we literally walked and walked for miles! I wish I wore a pedometer so I could track how far we went - good thing because I had to walk off all the pizza I consumed throughout the week!

Vatican City:

Trevi Fountain:

Wednesday, March 17th - Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sooo I know it's kinda strange that I left Ireland during the week of St. Paddy's Day, but I wouldn't have traded my week in Italy for anything! Come on, it's Italy...and besides, we spent St. Paddy's Day at the Vatican, seeing the Pope! That's right, we saw Pope Benedict XVI up close and personal. We woke up nice and early (6:30am) to pack up, eat breakfast at the hotel (very nice, on the rooftop in a sunroom), and get to the Vatican by 8:30am for the 10:30 papal audience. We were told to arrive super early because there were 25,000 other people there! The Pope drove in on his Pope-mobile (that's seriously how people refer to the little white vehicle - I even heard a nun call it that!), waving to the crowds, before sitting at the center of the steps of St. Peter's Basilica. A Scripture passage from the Book of Psalms was read in 7 different languages, then the Pope addressed the crowd for about 15 minutes in Italian. Then the cardinals announced the particular groups present in the audience, the Pope addressed each nationality represented, and then ended with a Latin prayer....so basically the Pope speaks 8 languages! EIGHT LANGUAGES! I was totally blown away! He addressed the audience in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Latin. Impressive! Traveling to all these different countries is truly increasing my desire to learn more languages. The papal audience was definitely a special, once in a lifetime experience! Thank you Mrs. Cardiello for getting us tickets - so cool!



At the conclusion of the papal audience we drove about a half hour outside of Rome to the town of Ciampino to visit Maria's grandfather's cousin, Gianni, and his family - they own Rinaldi's pasticceria (a bakery and bar). The pastries, chocololate, cakes, pies, cookies, etc. are amazing! They invited us over for lunch - incredibly hospitable and generous - and then gave us two cakes and other delicious sweets to wish us on our merry way. We then drove another 3 1/2 hours south to San Rufo (where Maria's dad grew up) and stayed with Zia Maria (Maria's grandmother's sister aka Maria's great aunt). She was adorable and also very hospitable - a common trend among the Cardiello family! We arrived around dinner time, so of course she filled us up with food! The first dish was raw anchovies - now, usually I just pick them off of certain dishes, but this time I had to be polite and eat the huge spoonful she put on my plate. Here's the trick - you stuff the raw fish in enough Italian bread to conceal the taste haha...but, it honestly wasn't that bad because she marinated it in some sort of tasty sauce. After the anchovies, she brought out homemade meatballs - Mmmmmm! - tomato and cucumber salad, cake, fruit, and dried figs. Ahh I was sooo full by the end and ready for bed!

On Thursday the 18th we slept in, then drove around San Rufo, meeting more of Maria's extended family - dang she has connections everywhere! I met Zia Maria's brother and family, as well as the parents of Maria's uncle (her dad's brother-in-law), and they always offered to feed us! So sweet! Then we drove to Mr. Cardiello's old house, which has been deserted for about 35 years! We returned back to Zia Maria's house for a humongous lunch, consisting of amazing homemade ravioli, chicken, fries, and broccoli - filled me up of course! With such a huge lunch, we had a light dinner of meat and caciocavallo, my new favorite type of cheese, with fresh bread. For dessert, I tried roasted chestnuts for the first time - yummy!

On Friday, March 19th, we left Zia Maria's house around 10:30am for the 5 1/2 hour drive to Florence, where Maria is currently studying. We arrived in Florence before dark (perfect!) so I could see some of the city before bed. While Maria's parents got settled into their cute Bed and Breakfast, Maria and I walked around the beautiful city, went grocery shopping (I got some awesome chocolate chip cookies to bring back to Ireland with me), bought my train ticket from Florence to Pisa Airport for the next day, then met up with Maria's parents again for one last authentic Italian meal. This time I got spaghetti with tomato sauce and fresh basil - simple yet delicious. The huge portion filled me up very quickly! Then we got my last gelato in Italy (chocolate hazelnut), and then Maria and I headed back to her school apartment for the night - her apartment is huge and super nice (she had an extra bed for me)...and it's clean (ahh so jealous! she doesn't live with boys, so it makes sense haha). Right before crawling into bed, Maria got a phone call from her parents that British Airways was going on STRIKE and that their flight home on Saturday was canceled! What a nightmare! ...so they were up really late calling the airline back and forth to figure out what they could do. The best they got was a late flight Saturday night to London, where they would have a longggg layover, and then fly out of London to the states on Sunday night, getting back much later than they had anticipated! Bummer!!!

Saturday, March 20th was departure day. My flight wasn't until 7pm, so Maria gave me a tour of Florence - we saw the Duomo, the fake statue of David haha, and enjoyed walking around the cute side streets.

The Duomo aka Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore - a cathedral church from the late 13th century:

Then we hopped on a bus to meet Maria's parents at Zia Maria's daughter's house (Ernestina and her husband Gino and daughter Paula) for another amazing meal - tortellini and salmon, beef stroganoff, salad, spare ribs, bread, salad, cake, and ice cream. It's so nice that Maria has family directly in Florence, only a short bus ride away!

Then Maria's parents drove me to Pisa Airport, where I hopped on a plane from Pisa to Paris, then Paris to Dublin. I only had about a 45 minute layover in Paris, so I was a bit nervous about making my flight to Dublin, especially since my most frequent RyanAir flights have been delayed, but thankfully all my flights were on time and I made it back to Ireland safe and sound! You know you've flown a lot when you start to see the same flight attendents on different flights haha.

WOW! So that was Italy. Am I missing anything? OHHHH so quick story - when we were in Venice, Mr. Cardiello insisted on buying a particular type of cake, Colomba di Verona Cake, that he didn't think you could buy anywhere else in Italy. So that silly cake traveled with us through Rome, San Rufo, and Florence . . . and the funny thing is that we saw the exact same cake in every city we visited haha. The cake was even going to make the trek overseas, back to the U.S., but we couldn't resist any longer and devoured the cake at Ernestina's house in Florence....and it certainly was yummy!

So, I really cannot thank the Cardiello family enough for inviting me to come along on their adventures throughout the country. I am so grateful for their generosity, kindness, and amazing hospitality. I saw so many sites in so little time. It was truly the BEST Tour de Italy ever haha!

Spending a week in Italy with Maria and her family, and meeting her extended family, etc. made me really homesick! But, as I type this now, my parents are currently on a flight from Boston to Newark, NJ, where they'll hop on a plane straight to Dublin...I'm so excited they're coming to visit for Easter! We have so much planned for the ten days that they'll be here, and I am really looking forward to it!!