Saturday, April 11th, was the first day of our individual spring break. So the four girls I was going with for break, Miranda, Jessica, Miriah, and Nancy, and I started our break by doing a half day tour of three of the islands off of Venice. We started out the tour on Murano, which is known for its glass works. We watched a glass-blowing demonstration, and then wandered around and looked in some shops. Then we went to Burano, which is known for lace and the islands painted houses. It was a very beautiful island, and it might have been my favorite. And last but not least was Torcello. It was more of a historic island with a couple of old churches and things of the like, but it was still very neat to go visit. After our tour, we did some last minute souvenir shopping, and then were on our way to Rome. We got to Rome that night, found some amazing ice cream next to our hostel, and the wandered to the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately it was under construction, but we still attempted to throw coins into the fountain anyway.
On Sunday, we got up kind of early to go to Vatican City for mass. However, we did not realize that it was a holy day, so there was only one mass going on that day and we ended up missing it. However, they had it projected on the screens in St. Peter’s Square, so we watched it there. After that, we waited around for a while so we could watch the Pope’s address. He was a little too far away to see, and it was of course all in Italian, but it was still fun just to say we saw it in person. We found our way back to the hostel and ate some lunch and got some more ice cream, and then we were on our way again to do more sight-seeing. We went to the Colosseum first, and it was so amazing. Then we went to the Roman Forum which has quite a few Roman ruins, and it was pretty fantastic to walk around there as well. We walked back over to Trevi Fountain to see it during the day, and then we made our way over to the Pantheon. It was closed by the time we got there, but it was still neat just to see it from the outside. We finally found somewhere for supper, and had an amazing meal, both because the food was good and also because one of the hosts was very entertaining.
Monday morning was our last time to be in Rome, so we decided to go tour Vatican City. However, we did not realize how long the lines would be to get in, so we ended up paying a little more and going with a tour group. However the tour group left 45 minutes later than what we thought it would, so we kind of had to rush to see everything we wanted to see. Either way though, it was still great to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, and I’m glad we had the opportunity to do so. We hurried back to the hostel after that, grabbed our bags, and made our way to the airport to go to Paris. When we finally arrived in Paris, we got a little lost trying to get to our hostel, and it took us probably about 3 times as long to get there as it should have. So we just ate some supper at the hostel and called it a night.
The next morning, we went to Versailles, and it was definitely one of my favorite places I have been in Paris. It took a while to get there because it is so out of the city, but the palace was just so over-the-top ornate, and I loved it. We spent a couple of hours there, and then made our way back into Paris. We stopped on our way to our next destination by the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures with it during the day. After that, we went to the Catacombs. This was something I had really wanted to do last time I was in Paris, but we did not have the time. But it was definitely exciting to go wander through the Paris underground and see all of the bones that are down there. After the catacombs, we went for food and then made our way back to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for the elevator because we did not think we could climb up it, and then we got to see the city at night. It was so beautiful, and I’m glad I can now say I have been up the Eiffel Tower.
Wednesday was our most touristy days in Paris. We started out by going to Notre Dame. It has so much history and is so very beautiful, and I enjoyed getting to see it again. We then went to the Paris Opera House, where the Phantom of the Opera takes place. After that, we went to the Louvre. We were only there for a couple of hours, but I was still able to see other things there that I did not see the last time. After the Louvre, we went to the Pont des Arts, which is the bridge that people put locks on. However, because the locks have been compromising the bridges structure, it does not look quite the same because some of the locks have been removed. After that, we went to the Pont Alexander III, which is one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris. It is also right next to Les Invalides, which is where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried. We then returned to the Eiffel Tower and rested with our feet in the water of a fountain that is close to it. Then we just returned to the hostel, ate some dinner, repacked, and went to bed.
On Thursday morning, we woke up early to catch our plane to Barcelona. We got there around noon, and instead there being nice weather there like what it had been in Paris, it was raining. But we took a taxi to our hostel, and by the time we got there, the rain had pretty much stopped. When we got to the hostel, we happened to run into four other people from our UNK group who were visiting Barcelona as well for spring break. So we all went for lunch, and then walked for about an hour to get to La Sagrada Familia Basilica. It is still just as beautiful as it was last time I was here, and there has definitely been some work accomplished on it since I last saw it. We did not go in since the line was pretty long, but I have already decided I am coming back to Barcelona in at least 11 years when it is supposed to be complete, so I will definitely go inside it then. After the basilica, we walked to Las Ramblas, which is one of the main shopping areas in Barcelona. We walked around for a while, and then returned to the hostel. We waited there for a while, and then eventually went for a late supper.
We slept in on Friday, because we did not really have much on our agenda for the day. When we did finally get up, we took the metro to Park Güell. We walked around it for a while, and then finally made our way towards the beautiful mosaic part. However, we realized that apparently you need tickets now to get inside that part of the park, so we left and went to go find lunch. We found a great smoothie and sandwich place near the park, and then took the metro again to the Christopher Columbus statue. We thought the beach was pretty close to the statue, but we ended up having to walk for quite a ways to get there. We walked around on the beach for a while though, and then returned to the hostel for a nap. After our nap, we went for supper and had paella and then came back to the hostel because there was supposed to be a beach party going on that night. However, it was not really a beach party, and instead we went to a bar for a while and played some pool, and then we went to a club. We danced for a while, but the club was a little too obnoxious for us, so we did not stay there that long and then went back to the hostel to sleep.
On our last day of spring break, we slept in again. Miranda and I woke up first and got ready to go to the beach. We walked around the beach for a while and finally found some sunscreen, and then we rented a chair on the beach since we did not have beach towels. Jessica, Miriah, and Nancy eventually joined us, and then we just all stayed there and relaxed for a few hours. We finally returned to the hostel to freshen up, and then went on our way back to Las Ramblas for some more souvenir shopping. We even found the place that Miranda ate at for supper last time she was in Barcelona, and it was pretty delicious. We all had paella again for supper, and absolutely loved it. Apparently, they also have a really nice ice bar in Barcelona, so we went to try to find it after supper, but when we did finally find it, it was a little too expensive to get in, so we just returned and went to bed.
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| A mural on a wall of some of the more well-known buildings in Barcelona |
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