Eurotrip 2014 - Berlin [day 13/14]

New Years Eve!

Huzzah!

Good bye 2014!

But, before that, when I woke up this morning there was still a good 19 hours before the clock would hit midnight and the fireworks would go off. If you can do your math, than you've probably figured out that meant I must've woken up at around 4:00AM. I did. My friend had a bit of an emergency that night that required waking up, cleaning bedsheets, and acquiring from medicine from my parents for stomach pains--I think you can connect the dots. I did manage to fall asleep after that event, and I believe I didn't wake up until 9AM that day, but it was another day where I felt mildly exhausted throughout. For many reasons--but this one being the first reason.

Eurotrip 2014 - Berlin [day 12/14]

The day started bright and early--much, much too early. My dad can be occasionally very frustrating to travel with. Very occasionally. He likes to relax, but he also likes to get up early and do things as soon as possible and thus, I found myself being woken up by him at 8:00AM.

Eurotrip 2014 - Berlin [day 11/14]

Day one of Berlin and boy did this day start out early (and therefore exhausting).

So, I actually have a friend in Germany at the moment living in Heidelburg, and when I told her I would be visiting Berlin for a bit we thought about meeting up--after all, what are the chances we will see each other again? She's also quite familiar with  my family, being a friend from way back in those old elementary school days, so my family offered to let her stay at the airbnb apartment we were staying at and join us for our short 3 days in Berlin.

Eurotrip 2014 - Venice/Berlin [Day 1014]

Because our tour had ended, today we slept in. Not super late, obviously, because we didn't know how long breakfast would last, but I don't think we went down until 9AM? 9:30AM?

Regardless, today we were heading to Berlin!... at 7PM at night, so truthfully we technically still had at least half a day left to wander around Venice. My sister, who would not be joining us in Berlin, was leaving by train to head to Rome again at 11:25. Due to this, and the fact that we didn't need to check out of our hotel until noon, me and my brother spent our entire time using the internet downstairs because for once, it was very fast and very reliable. My sister left, my parents went to see her off, my mom managed to buy a pair of (what looked like very warm) boots in the process, and me and my brother sat there like the young generation we are glued to our electronics. Then it was time to go. We left our suitcases at the hotel, checked-out and then went out to walk and find a place to eat lunch.

Eurotrip 2014 - Venice [Day 914]

Oh my goodness -- we actually got to have the entire DAY to ourselves for once! Unbelievable!

Our morning started at 9AM again, where we had a short excursion to an outdoor food market where we met our guide, who was this adorable little old lady who kept saying "yoohoo" to get our attention and humming and singing whenever she wasn't speaking--honestly just the cutest lady ever. I loved her. But anyway, the market. It was nice, the usual market with your fresh seafood and fresh meat and fresh fruit, but obviously we weren't about to buy anything. Then she took us on a walk across the Rialto bridge and then stopped at a courtyard outside one of the houses where Marco Polo actually lived. Again, I must admit, I don't remember what she spoke about. It was cold. I was tired. I just remembered she was adorable. It was also, overall, a very short tour anyway because it ended at around 10:30.

Eurotrip 2014 - Venice [Day 8/14]

Day two of Venice starting bright and early and today was actually quite a nice day. Yesterday was pretty chilly, but today the sun was out so it wasn't so bad walking around.

I want to mention the breakfast of this hotel because they provided a very nice breakfast. They had fresh fruit (yay--although it was mostly pineapples and kiwis and I am slightly allergic to both those things) but they also had entire pears, oranges, and bananas that were free to take--and the pears were delicious! Not only that, but they also had some pasta-salad, mushroom, a solid chunk of ricotta cheese (that my sister liked but just seeing it made me gassy). The mushrooms were delicious though. So good.

But anyway - on to our actual day.

Eurotrip 2014 - Bologna/Venice [Day 7/14]

Christmas Day in Venice! Venice! A city I had spent my childhood only imagining about. So mysterious, so fantastic, so unreal - and I was finally here!

But first with a stop at Bologna.

Also, Venice was cold.

Eurotrip 2014 - Florence/Pisa [Day 6/14]

Christmas Eve! Woo! Leaning Tower of Pisa! Woo!

...

Okay, so maybe I wasn't as excited for this day as I make it sound, but we did get to sleep in. That's always a bonus!

Eurotrip 2014 - Florence/San Gimignano [Day 5/14]

Day two of Florence, starting out bright and early at 8AM to go to the Academia to oggle at David and his glorious buttocks. No, but in all seriousness... oh wait, that is what I did this morning. Spent the morning at the academia learning more about Michelangelo and his four other incomplete statues, as well as learning more about David and the various misfortunes he fell upon while outside. I found it particularly amusing how they tried so hard, in WWII, to protect him. Way to care about your art pieces (but obviously, thank god for that because you should protect your art).

Eurotrip 2014 - Assisi/Florence [Day 4/14]

We (me and my siblings) were hoping we would be able to sleep in today because we weren't leaving for Florence until 8:30, but sadly we had to wake up early to put our luggage out in the hallway for the porters to collect and transport to the bus by 6:45AM. Needless to say, that kind of sucked - but after doing that we trooped down for an early breakfast and then me and my sister crawled by upstairs for another short nap before we had to meet up with the tour group.

Eurotrip 2014 - Pompeii/Naples/Rome [Day 3/14]

6:30AM wake up call, left at 7:30AM for the 2.5, nearly 3hr bus ride to Pompeii. On the bright side, despite having to wake up before the sun had barely risen, it was a super gorgeous day. Clear blue skies, sunshine, and very, very warm.

Eurotrip 2014 - Rome [Day 2/14]

I remember, after being woken up by the shrill tones of the phone on the table beside my bed, why I hated tour groups so much. 7:00AM. Not only that but my mouth was dry as death, and I was ravenous. I slept fine - I don't experience much jetlag, but it still is never a great experience to wake up the next day after a day of flying at ungodly hours like 7AM.

Eurotrip 2014 - Rome [Day 1/14]

December 18th, Montreal. I had just finished and handed in my last term paper two days ago on the 16th, and the  night before that I had spent in a full panic because I couldn't find my passport anywhere and thought I would have to apply for a new one. Luckily, I was able to find the passport - but that one night of panic, terror, and no sleep completely threw me off my track. Before I knew it, it was the day of my flight out to Europe.

I was excited. I was finally going to Italy! A place I had dreamed about going to since childhood.