As of my last real post, I've been to 3 other countries! Yay! The week of St. Patrick's day was any ordinary week in Roma: class and walking, practicing Italian and eating lots of delicious food!
For Easter weekend, I headed up north to Salzburg, Austria to visit with McKenzie, who is studying there with the U. of Redlands program. Saturday morning I got up bright and early to get to the train station by 7:30am. I arrived in Salzburg at 7:00pm! It was a long journey, but definitely worth it!
The house on the Monchsburg
A snowy walk back to the house
Sledding!!!
McKenzie is a good sledder, and I'm jealous. Haha
Me, with our snowman, Herman! We built him the old-fashioned way.
The Salzburg skyline from the Monchsburg. So beautiful!
The Festoon by night!
DELICIOUS apple strudel!!
We came to this restaurant several times...
Megan is studying in London at Caines (sp?).
It was so great to see her and catch up on everything!!
The gorgeous Bulgarian National Theater
The crest of Parliament (I think!)
The 40 meter tall statue of Sofia, the patroness of the city.
St. George in Rotunda.
The oldest building in Sofia, still used for services (I went to one!!)
Me, skipping down the yellow brick road.
The bricks were a gift from the Austrian king for the wedding of the Bulgarian king.
A very large church that I can't remember the name of at the moment.
There is a crypt/museum with religious icons from throughout the centuries.
It was really interesting.
Until Bulgarians see the first bird returning for spring or the first bloom of a flower, they wear these red & white bracelets. Then they tie them onto a tree when they do see a bird or flower. Many of the trees were literally dripping with these bracelets. It looked really cool.
I have no idea what this thing was, except for AMAZING!!!
It was like apple pie with walnuts... mmmmm!!
The guards at the President's house. I liked their uniforms.
Formerly the Bulgarian Royal Palace, now an art gallery.
Hadrian's Gate
The Plaka! GREAT shopping!!
This one speaks for itself...
Hooray for self-timers!!
The Temple of Olympieion
The Athenian Skyline
The Temple of Athena Nike
The Parthenon!!
I love this. It says the Parthenon restoration project was launched in 1983!!
My hotel, Stelio's Place
The beach, literally 30seconds from my hotel.
The mountains behind my hotel
Me, Fira, and the volcano!!
Fira!!
Me and some donkeys at the steps to the caldera!
The Salzburg skyline from the Monchsburg. So beautiful!
The Festoon by night!
DELICIOUS apple strudel!!
We came to this restaurant several times...
So after seeing the sights of Salzburg (and many from the Sound of Music!) I headed back to Rome Tuesday night and arrived Wednesday morning (obviously night trains are a bad idea...). I made it back to Rome in time for class Wednesday and then Wednesday night met up with another friend from Redlands who was visiting Rome for a while. We got some dinner and hung out with the other Lexia girls at Campo.
Megan is studying in London at Caines (sp?).It was so great to see her and catch up on everything!!
The following weekend was the start of our spring break. My friend Tiffany was supposed to come down for the weekend from Copenhagen, Denmark, but something went wrong with her train reservations from Paris. It was still a great weekend though because McKenzie decided to come back to Rome!!! She arrived at 9:00am on Friday, March 28th and left at 7:45am on Sunday. We hung out and did all the touristy stuff she hadn't been able to do before - like throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain or climb the Spanish Steps. We also went to the beach because the weather was GORGEOUS and neither of us had been to a beach in so long.
Near the top of the Spanish Steps.
At one of my favorite churches in Rome (formerly the Baths of Diocletian)
The Spanish Steps!
Near the top of the Spanish Steps.
The Italian Coast!! (In our matching sweatshirts!)
Collecting really cool shells!
And I did go in the water a bit, and it's MUCH colder than it looks!!
So, Monday morning's when the real adventure begins! I left for Sofia, Bulgaria at 4:00am in order to make it to the airport by 7:00am. I arrived in Sofia at around 11:00am and met up with Mrs. Lazarova's friend, Svetlana and another guy who spoke English. They took me from the airport to the newspaper office they both work for. We hung out there for an hour or so because they had a meeting, then got some lunch (which was delicious! But I don't know if it was traditional Bulgarian food... I don't even know what it was called!) After lunch Svetlana and some of her colleagues took me to my hostel. When we arrived however, Svetlana said that it was too expensive and not nice enough for the location and price, and that I would stay at her house with her. However, we ended up walking to two other hostels (Svetlana doesn't speak very much English, and I- OBVIOUSLY- don't speak much Bulgarian, so there was some lack of communication there!! Haha) and I ended up staying in the last one we visited, and I paid less and had a better location! So thank goodness Svetlana was there to make sure I wasn't ripped off!
After checking in to the hostel, Svetlana and her colleagues had to go back to work, so I unpacked and checked out the map of Sofia. I decided to take a nice walk around the city until around 9:30pm when I would meet up with some of Svetlana's younger and English-speaking colleagues.
And I did go in the water a bit, and it's MUCH colder than it looks!!
So, Monday morning's when the real adventure begins! I left for Sofia, Bulgaria at 4:00am in order to make it to the airport by 7:00am. I arrived in Sofia at around 11:00am and met up with Mrs. Lazarova's friend, Svetlana and another guy who spoke English. They took me from the airport to the newspaper office they both work for. We hung out there for an hour or so because they had a meeting, then got some lunch (which was delicious! But I don't know if it was traditional Bulgarian food... I don't even know what it was called!) After lunch Svetlana and some of her colleagues took me to my hostel. When we arrived however, Svetlana said that it was too expensive and not nice enough for the location and price, and that I would stay at her house with her. However, we ended up walking to two other hostels (Svetlana doesn't speak very much English, and I- OBVIOUSLY- don't speak much Bulgarian, so there was some lack of communication there!! Haha) and I ended up staying in the last one we visited, and I paid less and had a better location! So thank goodness Svetlana was there to make sure I wasn't ripped off!
After checking in to the hostel, Svetlana and her colleagues had to go back to work, so I unpacked and checked out the map of Sofia. I decided to take a nice walk around the city until around 9:30pm when I would meet up with some of Svetlana's younger and English-speaking colleagues.
The gorgeous Bulgarian National Theater
The crest of Parliament (I think!)
The 40 meter tall statue of Sofia, the patroness of the city.
St. George in Rotunda.
The oldest building in Sofia, still used for services (I went to one!!)
Me, skipping down the yellow brick road.
The bricks were a gift from the Austrian king for the wedding of the Bulgarian king.
A very large church that I can't remember the name of at the moment.
There is a crypt/museum with religious icons from throughout the centuries.
It was really interesting.
Until Bulgarians see the first bird returning for spring or the first bloom of a flower, they wear these red & white bracelets. Then they tie them onto a tree when they do see a bird or flower. Many of the trees were literally dripping with these bracelets. It looked really cool.
I have no idea what this thing was, except for AMAZING!!!
It was like apple pie with walnuts... mmmmm!!
The guards at the President's house. I liked their uniforms.
Formerly the Bulgarian Royal Palace, now an art gallery.
And now, Greece!
I arrived in Athens at around 2:00pm on Wednesday, checked my bags in the airport, and hopped on a bus to the city center.
I arrived in Athens at around 2:00pm on Wednesday, checked my bags in the airport, and hopped on a bus to the city center.
Hadrian's Gate
The Plaka! GREAT shopping!!
This one speaks for itself...
Hooray for self-timers!!
The Temple of Olympieion
The Athenian Skyline
The Temple of Athena Nike
The Parthenon!!
I love this. It says the Parthenon restoration project was launched in 1983!!
And after about 6 hours in Athens, I headed back for a horrible night in the airport, as my flight to Santorini didn't leave until 4:30am Thursday. At any rate, I made it through the night, and arrived in Santorini at about 7:30.
My hotel, Stelio's Place
The beach, literally 30seconds from my hotel.
The mountains behind my hotel
Me, Fira, and the volcano!!
Fira!!
Me and some donkeys at the steps to the caldera!
And now, Sunday, April 13th, I'm off to a hotel for a week, because a film company is filming in our apartment! We are also getting a fancy dinner at some restaurant on Tuesday, all paid for by this company. Pretty sweet deal! Then I leave Friday night for a weekend in Paris with McKenzie! It will be spectacular and I can't wait!!! Hope all is well back in the States or wherever you are!!
Love,
Becca
PS - For more pictures of Bulgaria & Greece:
Bulgaria: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031620&l=db163&id=46001576
Greece: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031622&l=1e3ec&id=46001576
Love,
Becca
PS - For more pictures of Bulgaria & Greece:
Bulgaria: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031620&l=db163&id=46001576
Greece: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031622&l=1e3ec&id=46001576
