I am safely back from vacation. I arrived back in Chauny from Dublin last night. Vacation was everything that a vacation should be... fun, busy, and relaxing. And of course, I spent way too much money. Got to love expensive things like food. You think you find a great deal on flights and hostels, but then the city has the most expensive food ever. Okay... and I may have returned with a few new articles of clothing and some books, but none of those things were that expensive!!
Okay... my vacation.
Rome
Tuesday April 8
Viany, her friend Kelly, and I got up before the crack of dawn to catch a train to Beauvais. We arrived smoothly in Rome and checked into our hostel. We decided to go do some exploring. We had a lunch of yummy pizza and then headed to the Collosseum. And somewhere in that time, it started pouring. I had read that it was going to rain all week, so we decided to just be troopers and ignore the rain (of course it was beautiful the next two days). The Collosseum was cool... but so not worth the money. Next, we went to the Roman Forum/ruins... also cool but as it was raining out, we didn't feel like staying very long. So after a gelato stop, we headed back to our hostel for its free dinner.
The hostel was cool, nice and clean. Everyone was so nice... and Spanish speaking. Seriously, there were all of these Spanish speakers and me. And since I was with two Colombians, everyone assumed I spoke Spanish too. I don't. Although, I think I started understanding some things. A few times, Viany spoke in Spanish and I responded to her (in French)thinking she had said something in French.
Wednesday April 9
It was beautiful out! Nice and sunny and warm! We headed out to the Vatican. And of course, in all my infinite wisdom, I did not remember that the pope is there on Wednesdays. It was packed! And you couldn't actually enter St. Peter's Basilica apart from St Peter's Square on the outside. But on the upside, I saw the pope! He came in on his pope mobile thing, drove through the crowd, and then started to give Mass. We left after the first gospel, because we wanted to go to the Vatican Museum.
Only Kelly and I went in, because it is expensive (love still having a student ID!!). We just went through the Sistene Chapel part of it which takes forever in itself, but it was gorgeous and totally worth the money! We saw all the great and famous paintings and works of art. Breathtaking.
After lunch, we wandered down by the river passing the castle and some other pretty buildings. We went to Piazza Navona, then the Pantheon, and then the Fontana di Trevi which is very cool looking. We then went back to the Collosseum/Forum area to get some non rainy pictures of the area.
Thursday April 10
We did a walking tour of Rome with me as the guide. Basically, I just set a course from our hostel that hit a lot of the major sites of Rome that we hadn't seen yet. We saw things like the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo. We wandered around after that and bought awesome gelato from one of the most famous places in Rome. We soon split up, because I wanted something nice for my last meal, and they well didn't. Plus, being with them constantly was wearing on my nerves. So I found a nice restaurant near the Pantheon and had gnocchi with a wonderful four cheese sauce and some wine. I then wandered around, enjoying Rome at my pace and in my style. Needing a break, I stopped at a cafe and had a cappachino. It was great!!
Friday April 11
Back to Chauny. We caught the bus to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Not fun. Arriving in Beauvais, our friend G. picked us up and took us back to Chauny. Much nicer than waiting around and taking the trains. And plus, we wanted to celebrate Viany's birthday... which I already posted about.
Paris with Anna
Sunday April 13
I took a very long ride into Paris which consisted of a train, a bus, and then another train since they were working on the train tracks. Once in Paris, I headed over to Anna's. She lives in a lovely neighborhood and her place is so nice! I really liked it! We had breakfast together and then headed out to Pere LaChaise cemetery. We strolled around there for awhile. Let me just say that the place is huge and confusing! We didn't really find any of the graves we were looking for except Oscar Wilde's. We finally gave up because we were tired and hungry. Next, we went to the Grand Mosquee de Paris. We were too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so we had several mint teas and some pastries and chatted nonstop while we waited for dinner. Dinner was well worth the wait! I had a brick d'oeuf (which is something I had in Tunisia and loved) and couscous with chicken. Delicious!!
Dublin
Monday April 14
Anna and I had a quick breakfast before I headed out to take the bus to Beauvais airport for my flight. Of course, my flight was delayed by over an hour. Oh, lovely spending so much time in that airport. For anyone who's never been to that airport... it's pretty much a small building in the middle of a field. Not too exciting. Once in Dublin, I got to enjoy the fact that I was a non EU citizen and take advantage of the non EU passport control line which consisted of me. Got to love it! I had a minor panic attack once walking outside and getting on a bus with a bunch of anglophones. This was my first time in an English speaking country since September. Everyone was speaking English and was so loud! The French are not normally that loud. I just wanted to crawl under my seat. I finally made it into the city and checked into my hostel right before I headed out to meet Teija, Tammi, and their friend Rebecca who were also vacationing in Dublin. We had an early dinner at a pub before exploring the Temple Bar area a bit. I loved being able to meet up with these girls! So much fun!
Tuesday April 15
I met up with the other girls and a friend of Teija's who lives in Dublin. We all took one of those bus things that goes around the city for sightseeing. That was pretty cool. We saw all these cool things before getting off at the Guinness Storehouse. That was a fun tour! It was rather interesting, and you can do it at your own pace (which I love). It also ended up with a free pint of Guinness! During the tour, we got to sample the beer. I hated it, so I used my free drink coupon for a Coke. Haha. I'm such a wimp. After the tour, we took the bus back into the city center and found a place for dinner. I love fish and chips! Yummy! We also splurged and got dessert. I chose strawberry cheesecake. I hadn't had that since leaving the States. And let me just say one thing while I'm on the topic, I kept getting so excited like such a dork when I saw products that I haven't seen since leaving home like Dr. Pepper and Quizno's.
Wednesday April 16
Tammi and Teija had a flight home that morning, but Rebecca was still in Dublin, so she and I met up. We went to see Leatherheads at the cinema. It was so nice seeing a film that wasn't French or dubbed into French. I enjoyed it. We then did some shopping and wandering around before Rebecca had to head off to the airport. After having dinner, I went back to the cinema to see 27 Dresses. I was apparently craving some nice American cinema. I also enjoyed this film. It was cute and funny. I missed romantic comedies. I also bought some new jeans (for 9 euros!), because all of mine have seen better days now, and I purchased two books... the hilarious Merde Happens by Stephen Clarke and Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson. She's a former language assistant in France who currently lives in Paris. She was offered a book deal after keeping a very popular blog online. I had to buy it!
Thursday April 17
I did some major exploring of Dublin. I walked around Trinity College (the oldest college in Ireland), Dublin Castle (couldn't go in though because there was some kind of meeting), Christchurch Cathedral, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. I didn't go in either, because that costs money. A lot of money. Who charges for churches? That would be the Irish. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather (and availability of Starbucks'coffee), I spent a lot of the day reading my new books around the city. I spent a lot of time in St. Stephen's Green which is a beautiful park with lots of colorful flowers, ducks, and ponds. I also did some window shopping on Grafton Street. It's like the Champs Elysee of Dublin.
Friday April 18
Back to Chauny. I caught my flight back to Beauvais, spent a lot of time waiting for a train in Beauvais, and then finally arrived back in Chauny in the evening.
So yep. Now, I am back in France. Last vacation is over. I have less than a month left here. More than a little freaked out about that. And only a week and a half left of teaching. Where did the time go?
Will post pictures once they're on my computer and uploaded.
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