My Roman Holiday...well sort of.

The date of this blog begins the 31st of March, seeing as it's the 30th of April, I realize that I'm a bit late in updating and I apologize, but I'm back on board with lots to talk about!

Anyway the 31st of March was a big day for me! I was leaving for my almost two week trip to Italy and I was making appetizers that night for my roommates for dinner! But I wanted to indulge in a museum visit first! I had purchased a ticket the night before to go to the Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the Museum of London as the museum opened! (You may ask why I had waited till the day before leaving for Italy why I was going to the museum, surely I had better things to do with my life, such as packing, to fill my day. Well you may or may not know that I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan! Whether that be Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Sherlock 

Or Robert Downey Jr's version. 

Both are quite brilliant and I suggest you watch them if you haven't.) Anyway, I made my way to the exhibit and the entrance was a fancy bookshelf that you had to "find the secret entrance into", I was less than impressed however when you just ended up pushing one of the panels open instead of moving a certain book.

                                   

Inside was the other side of the bookshelf which had kcolrehS semloH written on it , but when viewed in the mirror opposite proclaimed Sherlock Holmes. 

The museum held lots of different movie posters of Sherlock Holmes movies including clips from the movies. The exhibit also had original copies of Sir Conan Doyle's stories, newspaper articles and maps of Doyle's London at the time. I enjoyed the exhibit. At the end there was a gift shop where you could purchase replicas of Benedict Cumberbatch's dressing gown from Sherlock, as much as I really wanted one, I was not in the mood to pay £130 for one. 

After the museum, I headed to the grocery store with PC to pick up supplies for dinner that night. She was going to make Buffalo Chicken Dip and I was making spinach artichoke dip, fruit salsa and Devil's Food Cake Cookies. 

Everything turned out to be a big hit which I was grateful for! I had never made the spinach artichoke dip and even my roommate who doesn't like artichokes liked the dip! So I considered it a HUGE success!

The next morning (April 1st) I left for Italy! I had an early flight at 8:30 (yes I know that's not particularly early, but it takes over an hour to get to the airport from where I live and I needed to be at the airport 2 hours early, on top of that I wanted to be early just incase anything went wrong) so I woke up to catch the first tube out of Ladbroke Road station at 4:45. 

I was glad that I left for the airport so early, because once I arrived it was evident that things were not in working order. The Ryanair bag check and visa check line was ridiculously long, I waited in line for at least 40 minutes. I then waited in line at security for another 30 minutes, at this point it was already 8:15. I was really worried that I would miss my flight, but I rushed to my gate and found that they hadn't even started to board the plane! Not everyone was as lucky as I was though, the gate next to us was closed and a large group of people ended up missing their flight out. For some reason the security was having problems that day and over 50 people missed their flight! I'm so thankful that I wasn't one of them! After finally taking off at 9:00, we had a smooth flight to Milan, we even flew over the Alps which were still covered in snow. 

We arrived at the airport somewhat on time and I caught a bus to the city center, from there I was supposed to catch the metro to the AirBnB I was staying at. I made my way down to the metro station where a woman was standing next to the machine "helping" people find the right ticket. (I had read about these people who were looking to help people and then expect a few for their help. I also read that a simple no usual wouldn't do) She, of course, wanted to "help" me find the right ticket and took over and started to push buttons leading me to the ticket that I supposedly needed. I nicely told her no and pushed her hand away, again she tried to take over my screen. To be honest, I was over it, so instead I slapped her hand away and told her no again, it definitely pissed her off, because she poked my cheek and started yelling at me in Italian, but thankfully she walked away afterwards.

(As it so happened, I only had a €20 and the machine would only accept €10. So I had to go to the ticket window anyway and ask for what I wanted) The lady who I was staying with through AirBnB picked me up at the metro station that I got off on and took me to the place I was staying. She didn't speak English very well, but she was very sweet. She told me that there was a male model from Holland staying in the room next to mine (unfortunately I didn't get to see him while I was there), but she told me that I was beautiful and told me I was more than welcome to stay whenever I went back to Milan. (I unofficially dubbed her the Italian Aunt that I never had) (Btw, if you are ever having a lapse in your self-esteem, go to Italy, lots of people, mostly men, will tell you that you are beautiful) 

After dropping my luggage off and checking in with my mom, I took off to explore! My first stop was to the Milan Cathedral! This building was HUGE and in the middle of a large boulevard.

Next to the cathedral was a large shopping center which held a large amount of upscale stores such as Gucci, Rolex, Prada, Rolls Royce, etc. In the middle of this shopping center was an image of a bull on the floor who was missing some key body parts. Instead of his balls, there was a large hole. Apparently, you are supposed to put your heel in the hole and spin around, doing so will bring you luck. Don't worry, I took a spin on the bull to bring me some luck:) 

After the shopping center I headed down to the Milan Castle, where I stopped for a lunch break next to the large fountain that sit in front of the entrance. Some of my lunch included a strawberry Italian ice! 

I then took a gander through the courtyard of the castle to the park that lies beyond. It was such a nice day, there were a lot of people hanging out in the park, couples, families, individuals, etc. I really enjoyed the park, there was a river running through the center of the park, there were multiple basketball courts, patches of grass where people were laying out, and even a library sitting in the middle of the park! It was very small and quaint, but I thought that a library in the park was a great idea!

It was getting later, so I decided to head to the train station to print out my tickets for the following day and then headed home because I didn't want to be out on my own when it was dark. I also had another early morning the next day, so I thought I would turn in early. So with a FaceTime chat to LL and my mom and CF I went to bed.

April 2nd I left for Pisa! I woke up at 5:30 to catch my train at 7:20. Thankfully, I arrived at the station without problem and without being pestered by weird ladies at the ticket machine. The landscapes that we passed on our way through the country was beautiful, there were a lot of rolling hills and cute little Italian towns. I was also surprised at how many natural rivers we passed.

I finally arrived around 11 at the train station and after heading in the wrong direction only once, headed to the new AirBnB I was staying at. I was really surprised how small and low-key the city of Pisa is! Walking to the AirBnB I didn't really see very many people and it seemed very quiet. I dropped off my luggage and quickly left. (The lady who I stayed with had 4 cats!!! and I didn't want to stay around until I had to.) Now, during previous night's call to LL she warned me that everything to see in Pisa was within the same block and she was not lying. Below is the touristy parts of Pisa that everyone wants to get a glimpse of.

Pretty small huh? I was also informed by LL that your not supposed to sit on the grass and while there were signs in quite a few languages, no one paid attention to that. 

My first Italian gelato (of course it was strawberry!)

After walking around the square and having lunch in the shade, I went and explored the town a little. I found this old building and a river! Afterwards I headed back to home base and the cats! I made sure none of them were in my room and passed out. 

The next morning (April 3) I left for the train station to Rome after a delicious breakfast provided by my host. She was also a wonderful lady who opened up rooms in her house for people to stay at. I had a 3 hour train ride to Rome that passed right by the coastline, so we were able to see some great beach and ocean views. Once arriving in Rome I made my way to the hostel that our group was staying at. Unfortunately, their bus was delayed getting into the city center, so I ended up reading in the lobby of the hostel for an hour before they showed up. But I was very excited to see them when they arrived! 

Six is a rather large group to be traveling around Italy with, yes unfortunately it was only six because my roommate MC had previously been to Italy, so she skipped out. (I didn't blame her, her sister was also coming for a visit and they were going to different places in France and Switzerland). After getting settled in the hostel, we took off to see Rome! 

The entire time we were in Rome, we continuously mentioned the Lizzie McGuire movie where Lizzie goes to Rome on a school trip and is mistaken as an International Pop Star. Needless to say, we were very excited to see all of the same spots that Lizzie had visited! Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain.

Unfortunately, the entire thing was UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! WHAT THE HECK! I was very very upset. (We later looked up the construction dates online and the fountain will be closed until October!)

My dreams of becoming an international pop star were forever shattered. We couldn't even toss a coin in the fountain because they were resurfacing it. (I guess that just means that I'm going to have to come back to Italy so that I can toss a coin in the fountain.) After passing that disappointment, we moved on to the Pantheon. Built in 126 AD, this is in fact the third Pantheon that was built in this spot, the first two burned down.

Some interesting facts about the Pantheon is that it's used as a Pagan Temple, Christian Church and a Tomb! The shape of the building (cylinder) can actually fit a perfect sphere inside. Apparently the Romans were very very obsessed with symmetry and shapes. 

There are a ton of gelato shops around Rome, so our next stop was at what PC stated "one of the best gelato shops in Rome" and it was pretty tasty! Although, I'm not sure it was one of the best! A lot of them tasted the same to me! We then continued to walk to the Spanish Steps. I'm not exactly sure why they are famous, but they were also under construction. Although, I did find out that they are one of the world's longest and widest staircases. Unfortunately, it was really packed when we went.  

But because it was such a nice day, we sat down and enjoyed the sun for an hour or so before moving on to enjoy dinner. I have to interject that while we sat on the steps, we were approached probably 10 different times by guys who were trying to sell Selfie sticks and other weird items. By the end of the first day we were sooooo tired of people trying to sell us those dumb sticks! 

We then headed to a restaurant that the hostel had recommended and since we were in Italy I thought I would try the pizza! 

While it may look pretty appetizing on in the picture, it wasn't very good. In fact, I think all of us were pretty disappointed with our meals. Let me just tell you, we did not eat there again!

Saturday (4th), we had our tickets to the Vatican at 11, so we got up early to get some nice pictures on the Spanish steps without so many people on it. 

And we got in line to get pictures with the Trevi Fountain

Then we headed to Vatican City, the day before Easter. 

Let me tell you, it was SOOOOO packed. Thankfully we already had tickets to get in, so we didn't have to wait in line, but there were still so many people. Our group split up once we were inside because there was no way we were going to be able to stick together. We agreed to meet up at 3 so that we all had the time we wanted to spend looking at different parts of the museums. The main thing I wanted to see was the Sistine Chapel and the beautiful ceiling, unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures in there, so you'll have to look up the actual ceiling online. 

But there was still a lot of pretty things to see on the way to the Chapel. There was a hallway that went on forever, but the ceiling was just covered with so many different paintings. I couldn't believe how many paintings were in the building. It took about an hour to get through the entire museum to see the Chapel, but afterwards, I met up with PC and we took pictures outside. 

We finally met up with our group around 2 because everyone got done early. 

Afterwards we headed back to the hostel and mostly everyone took a nap (I just read my book). By the time everyone had awoken from their nap, it was pouring rain outside and we couldn't go very far for dinner.  We ended up in a little pizza place down the road from our hostel that charged you for how big your pizza slice weighed. I ended up with some sort of potato pizza that was pretty tasty, but we rain back to the hostel and headed to bed before any of us could get too soaked. 

And now we're going to take a break for the rest of the Italy trip. In fact, this will probably turn out to be a 3 part post, so bare with me. I'm sure most of you are rolling your eyes, but I will get caught up!!!

Weekend with Family

After a long trip to Italy I'm finally ready to post about my wonderful weekend in Perth with my Aunt, Uncle and family!

My weekend starting on a Wednesday (March 25) when I took a flight to Glasgow to meet and stay with a friend! Unfortunately, because I was flying Ryanair, my flight was delayed by an hour.

Anyway, it was a very short flight, so my friend, GC (who I went to Sweden with) picked me up from the airport and we headed to a cute little restaurant/bar called The Butterfly and the Pig. Their menu was really cute, it told a bit of a story for each of the items on the menu. I ordered the Cottage Pie

Which was pretty much a beef, carrots and pea pie with mashed potatoes and cheese as the topping. I felt my arteries clogging as I ate. *Speaking of clogged arteries, apparently Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy in the UK because of all the fried/greasy food they eat combined with little walking* While GC ate a butterfly and pig burger with chips and cucumber slices. Overall, it was a really really good meal! 

Afterwards, we drove (yes drove! GC drove us around and it was pretty crazy sitting in the passenger seat on the left side of the car.) We passed the Glasgow Cathedral, the traffic was really bad, so GC just dropped me on the side of the road and I ran over to take pictures.

Surprisingly, on the corner from the Cathedral was a wonderful blue police box. I think it was an actual police box that they used in the 60's that they haven't taken down. It was just a Tardis to me, so I figured that Glasgow was a wonderful place to find myself. 

After hopping back into the car we drove to the University of Glasgow campus, which reminded GC of Hogwarts.

Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful campus, just not Hogwarts enough for your girl. 

After visiting the campus, it was time to go to Institute! I was excited to go and see how different it was from London and Arizona! GC had a meeting to go to an hour before Institute started, but I was content to wait in the lobby and read. When Institute finally started I was mostly surrounded by Scottish adults, you can imagine my face while they all started talking. 

I find myself liking the Scottish accent more and more, it just makes me fall in love with Scotland even more. Although at one point during our lesson of D&C, GC leaned over to me and asked me if I needed a translation. While it can be a bit hard to understand if you're not paying attention, I still love listening to it. 

Afterwards, it was dessert time and then some of the youth played chair football in the gym. I had a great time! We then headed home to GC's house where I would be spending the night. We arrived about 11:30, where I met GC's dad, brother-in-law, 2 sisters and cousin. They were a lovely bunch of people and let me tell you. It was probably the most perfect house I've ever seen. I'm not sure what I loved about it so much, maybe it was the fact that it felt very welcoming, or that I could definitely feel the spirit the second I walked in, but I loved it. GC's sister, RC wanted GC to make cookies, so we (RC, GC, JC (cousin), and myself) went out to the store close to midnight to pick up items to make cookies. One of the items we picked up was the drink of Scotland because I'd never tried it before. Irn Bru.

An interesting fact about this carbonated orange drink is that Scotland is the only country where another type of soda outsells Coke! Honestly, it tasted like drinking bubble gum and cough syrup so I didn't like it at all!

Funny enough, GC was pretty tired out when we got back, so RC and I made cookies while the four of us chatted about all sorts of stuff. Once the cookies were baking in the oven, GC passed out on the couch and the remaining 3 of us just sat and talked. Around 2 o'clock we decided to hit the hay. The next morning we woke up bright and early around 8 o'clock or so and headed downstairs for breakfast, where GC's awesome dad had made breakfast sandwiches with square sausage, eggs and ham. It was really good! (Square sausage is this sausage in Scotland that is laid out flat and shaped into a square. 

After getting dressed and ready to go, GC drove us up to Loch Lomond next to her house (pretty much a very large lake, they are called lochs in Scotland). It was such a pretty day, there was a sprinkle of rain and a gorgeous rainbow shining over the loch.

Afterwards we headed back into central Glasgow and GC dropped me off at the train station with 5 minutes to spare before my train left for Perth. The train was about an hour long journey, but the view was AMAZING. There was snow on the mountains in the distance and the rolling hills were gorgeous. I would love to drive through all of Scotland someday. 

My aunt picked me up from the train station and it was SO GOOD to see her and the kiddos! We drove past the kids school and then headed to lunch, where we had some fish and chips and met up with my uncle. We then drove to the church that he's in charge at, it was a lovely older building with pretty windows. Afterwards we headed to a birthday party of the families and had dinner and dessert and headed home around 8. My aunt introduced me to this wonderful invention: THE HOT WATER BOTTLE. You add hot, boiling water to it before you go to bed and curl up with it throughout the night and it stays warm THE ENTIRE NIGHT! I placed mine by my feet so they would stay warm and toasty and they did! 

The next morning (Friday) I was awoke by a knock and breakfast in bed from my sweet cousins. They brought me a plateful of eggs, toast and tea and the two youngest climbed into bed to jump around and talk. After breakfast, we headed to a hike a bit of a drive away, the roads were curvy, so my aunt let me sit upfront so I would't get sick. The hike was through a gorgeous bit of wood, with small streams and waterfalls spaced throughout and it was green everywhere! 

Our end goal was the castle on top of the hill, called Castle Campbell. Unfortunately because it wasn't the weekend, it was closed, but we were able to get a lovely view from the outside. We parked on the grass area next to the entrance and had a picnic consisting of PB&J sandwiches, fruits and crisps (Doritos). The hike back was much quicker and we piled into the car, just as it started to rain. Our next stop in the journey was the Wallace Monument in Sterling. My aunt and I were the only ones who went up in the monument, because some of the kids were sleeping and it was a bit pricey to take all of us. 

A bit of a background, Sir William Wallace was a landowner who later became one of the leaders during the Scottish Wars of Independence. Inside was three levels that contained armor, maps, military strategies and stories of William Wallace's life. At the very top of the tower was an observation deck where you could see all of Sterling. 

Afterwards, we then headed to Sterling Castle and as we walk in, we hear this amazing singing. Continuing through to the entrance and discover a whole bunch of missionaries! I'm not sure what they were doing at Sterling Castle, but it was nice to see all of them. My aunt and I then took a free tour of the castle given by a very cute older Scottish gentleman who was very enthusiastic about the history of Sterling and Scotland. 

See that goldish color on the right side of the picture? Well that's a restored building of the castle and apparently that's what the rest of the castle looked like when it was freshly built. We were also informed that this castle was the best in Scotland because of the viewpoint it gave to the residents. Facing one direction, you could see into the highlands and looking towards the other direction you could see Edinburgh, so strategically you could see your enemies coming for miles and miles and prepare for war.  

Inside the castle there was a large dining hall and our guide explained to us that this is where the parties and feasts would happen. He also told us that every King and Queen to sit in the chairs have had a terrible downfall, I thought I would take that risk. 

After the castle tour had ended it was about 4 and we were pretty hungry, so we went to Nando's and had some tasty chicken related meals. Then because it had just been released we went and saw Cinderella! 

I was really excited to see it because the trailers had looked so fantastic! And let me tell you, it was! Although I don't like the fact that Disney is remaking all of their classics, because nothing could ever replace them, there was something about the fact that we can relate to the characters more. I absolutely loved it and almost started to cry in some parts! So, go see it if you haven't! Once the movie ended, it was time for bed. So we headed back to the house and promptly passed out!

The next morning we had a bit of a hard time deciding where we were going to go. My uncle had to be back in town at some point during the afternoon to do something with the youth in his church, so we couldn't go very far, but we finally decided on St. Andrews. But our first stop was a cute farm shop that sold homemade/grown goodies. I stayed with something simple, berry tea and a scone. Which was delicious!

When then drove to the cute little college town of St. Andrews! It's not really that big, but there were quite a few people in town and it's right on the coast! They had some awesome castle ruins that you could walk through for a small price, so we skipped over it, but you could see most of them from the road. 

Not only did they have castle ruins, they also had this GINORMOUS cathedral ruins. 

I wish I could describe accurately how large this cathedral was. This was only a small portion of what  you could see, but there was 2 other wings of the building including a chapel and a crypt. It still amazes me how people built things in those days. 

Our last stop in St. Andrews was this cute little coffee shop where Kate Middleton and Prince William supposedly met! 

After St. Andrews, we drove out to a small farm shop that was about 15 minutes away. But this wasn't any old farm shop. This was the entrance to Scotland's biggest kept secret during WWII, the secret bunker. It's mostly kept off the map and you won't typically find it listed on things to visit when you go to Scotland, but it is a large part of history. 

Pretty much what this bunker was, was a last resort during the Cold War. Thankfully they didn't have to use it, but it was created as a place of refuge from nuclear warfare for the political and war leaders from surrounding areas in Scotland. This bunker is in the middle of farmland and is 150 ft below ground. There are two different stories that each cover an entire football field. There are many different types of rooms throughout the bunker: toilets, intel rooms, kitchens, sleeping quarters, war planning rooms filled with maps and all sort of old technology which would be considered high tech in those days. It was amazing! At the end of the tour we had the chance to dress up in costumes from that time period. 

Not only was this place very inconspicuous, but it was placed close to the beach where it was very VERY windy. I was worried that my cousins would be blown away at some point while we were walking about outside. Unfortunately, after the bunker tour it was time to head home because it was getting late. 

Just an example of how windy it was.

Once we got back home, it was time to relax. My aunt made homemade pizza and we watched the third Harry Potter movie. (My cousins are very into HP right now and I'm so proud of them!) 

After putting the kids to bed and changing in PJ's my aunt MF and I settled on the couch to watch some telly, but ended up talking for almost 2 hours. Then it was time for bed because I had to pack up the next morning to head back to London. 

At about 10 I was dropped off at the Perth train station to take the long 6 hour train to London. Thankfully, I had some books to read on the way, so I wasn't completely bored! And I could start preparing for my trip to Italy!