4 Countries in 10 Days: Me Finally Writing about Spring Break

Oh, so about those 10 days where I wasn't in the UK. Forgot about that.

(All my pictures are on Facebook, so really, go to there for better stories and photos)

So we decided for our Spring Break to hit 4 cities in 10 days: Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Venice (Italy) and Rome (also Italy). First up was Berlin, which we were supposed to fly into on Thursday, March 4th. First we had to get to the airport. There's a train to Stansted, the Stansted Express, from Liverpool Street. Unfortunately, because a few people were running late, we had to take a later train than expected and therefore got to the airport about 15 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off. By some miracle (and a sprint through the airport in my socks), we made it onto the plane, which had been delayed by some miracle of God. We landed and tried to get a train, and I ended up finding the one German guy who spoke perfect English and was going in our direction. So as we were getting off the S-Bahn, Steph decided to pay him for his services with a fruit cookie. We made it to the Heart of Gold in Berlin (best hostel ever? I think so) and ended up taking an epic 4 hour free tour of the city. Got to see the Brandenburg Gate (which is the picture up there, at Pariser Platz), a few memorials, and pretty much all of Berlin in one day.

The next day we were off to Prague, and after a really sort of sketchy uncomfortable bus trip, we reached Prague/Praha by 11:30ish. Once again, we didn't know the language - this time we didn't even have Paloma, who spoke the language. Now without Paloma or Sabina (who decided to go to Munich instead of go to Prague), we were at the train station with metro passes, koruny, and no idea where we were going. Steph ran into another guy who spoke English and led us directly to our hostel's street. She wasn't too quick with the cookies, though, and he left before we could properly say thank you. We figured out (we being me, Steph, and Carrie) that the koruny is weak against the dollar - meaning we could actually eat a real meal in Prague rather than eating street food like in Berlin - and then we set off for another set of free tours. We took two, taking the whole day and covering the entire city (including Prague Castle), ate dinner, and generally decided that Prague was amazing and fully worth picking over Vienna.

Next up was Venice. After a rather amusing train trip on the Hogwarts Express from Prague to Salzburg and then from Salzburg to Venice San Marcos (with the last leg being a nerve-wracking transfer in Austria), we reached one of the more beautiful cities I've ever seen.

And then it fucking SNOWED.

Dead serious! We were expecting 50 degrees and sunny. Turned out to be 30 or less and 4 inches of snow/slush that the Italians were completely unprepared for. We were also unprepared, me with non waterproof boots, Steph with Keds, and Carrie with my Chuck Taylors on (which was great for packing my bag but bad for keeping your feet dry). It didn't stop us from eating gelato every day (which is unreal, it's so delicious) or trudging through the city to see San Marcos Cathedral and the Modern Art Museum. But it did stop us from staying out past like 7, because we were tired and freezing our asses off. This was the city we chose to spend 2 full days in rather than any other, and I don't know if that was the right choice or not. Anyway.

Next up was Rome, with no transportation issues getting there (oddly enough). We got to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Pantheon on our first day there. Unfortunately, I found out later from Dave that the Via Della Palombella, or "Palombo Street," was right behind the Pantehon. Bummer. The next day we hit the biggies: The Colluseum (beyond awesome) and the Forum (even better), as well as the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. We literally went to another country by crossing a road. Got some great pictures, had some yummy pasta/pizza, got to keep a giant bottle of Coke, and (other than some difficulty getting to Ciampino airport via the train), we got out just fine and back to London.

And when I got back, I was still sort of on break because my parents and sister came to come visit. I had to take classes, sure, but I also got to go on the London Eye, in the Tower of London, in the Tower Bridge, in Westminster Abbey, in the Imperial Warm Museum, in Wimbledon, and other wonderful places that I didn't get to go to before without them here. I also got to show them around a country/continent they had never been to before. Mom needed some help figuring out the money (she didn't know what all the coins were, so anytime she had to pay, she needed me there), and Dad didn't have much luck with the beer or the coffee over here (warm and too frothy, respectively). Corinne seemed a little bored, but she's not a huge traveler like me. They all seemed to like the London Eye and the views, and we all thought Wimbledon was awesome too. Sort of funny the first day, they were all falling asleep on the London Eye (they were pretty freaking tired after that flight).

But the spring break didn't end there! Not only was I playing tour guide for my family for the week after I got back (which was really really fun), but the girls and I had booked Ireland for the weekend afterwards. Not only did we not realize how close to Spring Break our trip was, but we also didn't realize that we decided to go to Ireland on St. Patrick's Day weekend. We oddly didn't go out to the pubs (we wanted to, but they were expensive) because we had to wake up all the mornings we were there. The first night we got there we were just tired. The next we went to the Cliffs of Moher (where they shot the Cliffs of Insanity for The Princess Bride, part of Harry Potter, and the segment of Late Night with Conan O'Brien where he went in search of his Irish heritage). And the next day my alarm didn't go off and we almost missed our flight back to London (sense a theme?) because we had to get on the plane by 7:40 AM GMT. We made it and made it back all in one piece (very very tired), and it was fun.

That's it. That's my whole spring break rolled into one very long blog entry.