Get up to date! Where am I?!

So its been awhile...whats happened since I wrote the last post? Well i'll tell you in a minute. What comes after Florence was the wonder of Rome! Rome itself wasn't amazing. To me if you took all the monuments out, its am ugly city. This is compared to say Florence where if ypu took the main "sites" out, its still an amazing city. Even, on a lesser scale, Paris: if you took away the major points, its not nearly as nasty as Rome. Don't get me wrong, I loved Rome but not because of the splender of the city, it was the historical sites that MAKE Rome awesome. I can go on and on about how spectacular the coloseum is, how stunning the Trevi Fountain is at night, and how seeing the Pope was surprisingly a high light of Italy for me but I am lazy right now. I will say that the coloseum was way bigger than I imagined, I threw 2 coins in the Trevi Fountain (one means you'll return to Rome one day and the other means you'll find love...three means Italian lover so I stopped at 2 coins!), spent 2 hours at the Vatican to see the Pope speak then another 6 the next day checking out the whole Vatican City with my mates. The Vatican was really breath taking. Imagine the most ornate decoration you can imagine in a Cathedral then multiply by 60 and thats St Peters Basilica. Every inch, corner, and surface of the interior is cover is some sort of decoration whether it be sculpture, painted surface, or gold leafed (often it was all of the above!).

Best part of Rome for me was the mates I made at the hostel. There was a big group of us that all got on so well. Kiwis, lots of Canadians, one or 2 Americans, UKers (what do you call them now that they are "united"?)...so much fun, love them all!

After Rome a bunch of us headed to the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento to be specific...near Naples) for a couple splendid days in the sunshine! We rented scooters and drove the crazy mountain/coastal roads. I can honestly say it was the best day of my trip so far! I will go back one day, maybe in February?

Pizza was invented in Naples. We were to lazy to actually go to Naples for pizza so instead went to a local pizzaria where the Guiness World Record holder for biggest hand tossed pizza dough works. He actually owns the place and the walls are plastered with awards, trophies, and photos from past pizza competitions he competed in. Johnny (pizza guy) is teaching his 2 year old son how to toss dough too, so cute! Needless to say, it was the BEST pizza I have ever tasted. Not an exageration, this is a fact. Simple, traditional, margaritta pizza. I am drooling just thinking about it!

To sum up some of the "bests":
-best beer: anything German...especially like Lowenbrau
-best sausage: Germany again...currywurst
-best muesum: Berlin-Parthanon
-gelato- tied! corner of plaza at fake David (Florence) and the Gelatoria in Rome with dark chocolate gelato so dark it looks black.
-best home made dinner- paella in Barcelona (getting ahead of myself in the timeline of places visited)...honorable mention to pasta dinner we made in Florence.
-best waffles- Brussels.
-best chocolate- Brussels (hostel beside Godiva factory, remember?)
-best day- Amalfi coast on scooters with the mates...

All the "bests" I can think of at the moment....so many more but my current hunger is trumping my memory.

Ok, after Amalfi coast I took a 12 hour train ride North back to Lyon (as mentioned in earlier posts) for a 2 week intensive French language course. Awesome experience, crazy host mother! I am glad to be back on the move though, 2 weeks in one place was hard!

I just spent 5 crazy days on Barcelona! Met up with one of my Rome/Italy mates before she headed back to Canada and we had a blast! Barcelona is a cool city. The people are ao much more chill and friendly than the French! Siesta: best idea ever. No joke. Who wouldnt want a 4 hour nap in the aternoon?? Its like it was invented for me! The Basilica in Barcelona is insane! Gaudi (architect who designed it, also wont be done until 2030) is a nutter but also a genious in my eyes. I have so many pictures of the interior, plus I had the audio guide so spent a good 3 hours there. Yes, it had been awhile since my inner nerd could be satisfied properly.

So much that happened in Barcelona (besides amazing weather!). I will do a proper Barcelona post next but wanted to get y'all up to date.

The pictures are of Gaudi's appartment building he designed (didnt live there) and the inside of the Basilica he also designed. A lot of his inspiration came from nature, which is quite obvious when you look at the top of the pillers and how they branch off like trees. Anyways, these pictures suck big time at shoing how breath taking the inside was but it gives you a mini idea.

Kylie.