My last week in Europe was very action-packed. On Friday I left the Villa a little teary-eyed, as it was such a beautiful place and I couldn't believe my time there was over. But a group of friends and I headed to a hostel in Florence, where we stayed the night. It was such a different experience being in Florence without thinking that I have to be back at the Villa later that day. But we had a great time and it was nice spending some time with my friends after we left.
On Saturday, two of my friends (Courtney and Marina) and I went to Parma, Italy. I really liked it there because it was more of a family town, very quiet and quaint. And of course, when in Parma... we went out to lunch and had a great antipasto of parmesan reggiano and parma proscuitto ham- these were fantastic. The parmesan was some of the best cheese I've ever tasted! This then followed with a pasta that also had parma ham. Delicious! After lunch I had to say goodbye to Courtney, as she headed off to Greece for two weeks. This was pretty tough but I was glad that she was at least able to come to Parma for a little bit. After that Marina and I went to a huge park in Parma and hung out there for a little while. I sat on a park bench reading a book and then this Italian guy started talking to me. He spoke no English whatsoever, but I was able to keep up a conversation with him for about 10 minutes! I was really excited about his because after living in Italy and taking Italian for six weeks, I was actually able to understand and contribute to a converstaion in Italian!
View of most of the bridges in Florence. If you look through the arches of the first one, you see the next. And look through the arches of that one to see another one, etc.
One of my favorite pieces of art. Located in the Santa Maria del Carmine Church, this piece by Masaccio is titled "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden." I think the gestures and facial expressions of Adam and Eve are so realistic and amazing.
This ones for Mike :-) Apparently Lance speaks Italian too...
A big group of us on our last night in Florence. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got a haircut.
The girls and me :-)
The next day Marina and I headed to Lake Geneva, Switzerland. This was a great place. I have grown very partial to Switzerland, this being my second time there on the trip. Geneva was gorgeous. And it's right on the border with France, so of course they spoke French there. Luckily Marina knows French, so we were able to get by pretty well. I'd rather show more pictures of Geneva than talk about it, so here they are:
Lake Geneva.
Jet d'eau. Can you see the rainbow?
Jet d'eau again- I walked underneath this and got SOAKED!
Haha, one of my favorite thing about Geneva were all of the swans. And they loved to go diving for food leaving their bums exposed to the world.
This is Eddy from England. He had been traveling across Europe for two months on his bike, and still had two more months to go!
The Flower Clock in the English Garden. It's a clock made entirely of flowers!
Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc in the background.
There were beautiful skies as the sun was setting- please enjoy the next few pictures. This was breathtaking to see.
We arrived in Geneva on Sunday evening and then left Tuesday morning to head to Nice, France. This was a great adventure! The train rides took us from Geneva in Switzerland, through Lyon in France, then Marseille to Cannes to Nice. It was a very long train ride but the scenery was beautiful. Oh, and by the way, France definitely knows how to make a sandwich... I ate quite a few in the short time I was there. Once in Nice we walked around for a little while and went to see the beach (oh how I love the Mediterranean Sea!). When we got back to our hostel, the two other beds in the room had been filled by two girls from England, Amy and Fiona. The next day I went to the sandy beach in Cannes with Amy and Fiona. That afternoon, Marina and I headed to Monaco where we stepped inside the Monte Carlo Casino (pictures of the outside below)! That night was our last night in Nice, so the four of us girls went out for a nice dinner.
The following morning (Thursday), Marina and I had to get up before the sun to head back to Florence. We got there around 12:30p.m. and then said goodbye as Marina was heading on for more travels, and I was leaving the next day. Luckily, throughout all of the train rides, none of them were ever severely late and we were able to make all of our connecting trains throughout the week. This is very uncommon in Europe, but I'm definitely not complaining. It made for a much more relaxing week!
Nice was really nice (hahaha- that was the joke of the day...)
Nice and the Mediterranean Sea.
Again.
Monte Carlo Casino. No pictures were allowed inside.
Grace Kelly :-)
Fiona and Amy, my two British roommates in Nice.
Anyway, back in Florence, I headed to Sesto Fiorentino to have my last gelato at my favorite gelato shop. It was very strange going back alone. The town was so quiet. Something interesting about the month of August in Italy is that most shops are closed for most of the month and the owners go on vacation (generally to the sea). I was a little worried my favorite gelato shop was going to be closed, but when I turned the corner, I saw a sign on the door that read: "Agosto Sempre Aperto" which means"Always Open in August." After the gelato I went to the Villa where I had left my large suitcase (this would not have been good to travel with for the week). It was also strange going back to the Villa because the only person there was the gardener. He helped me get my bag and then I rolled it along the hot, 10 minute walk to the train station.I then met up with my roommate from the Villa, Kate, and her mom. They had invited me to stay with them for my last night in Florence. It was so great to see them again, and we had a really nice time. And it was especially nice staying in a room with air conditioning- I hadn't done that in 7 weeks! And let me tell you, Italy is HOT in the summer. Anyway, Kate and her mom and I met up with Rose and Rose's son Lorenzo for dinner that evening. We had really great meals and it was nice to be able to say goodbye to Rose and Lorenzo. After dinner Kate and I met up with another friend of ours from the program, Erica, who had been staying in Florence for the week with her parents. We went out for our last gelato and then headed back to the hotel.Friday morning I boarded my first flight at 7:15a.m. to head to Amsterdam. An hour layover there and then I was homeward bound. Looking down at the landscape, I remember thinking once I got into Italy how beautiful and different it was from back home. But I can't tell you how happy I was when we started descending down into Metro Detroit. I had such a great experience during my seven weeks in Europe, but that was plenty of time for me to be there. I'm so happy to be back and able to see all my family and friends. I know that I will cherish forever the memories I made on this trip. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm pretty darn sure I lived it to the fullest.
Lorenzo, Rose, and me after my last dinner in Florence.
Kate and her mom and me.
