Hello from Rome!

I have written this blog in MSWord, and hope it will copy over well to the internet blog when I am on the internet! Unlike America, where you can practically steal someone else’s unsecured wireless from just about anywhere, that isn’t the case of here :) BUT, in my new hostel in Rome, they give you ½ hour free, and then just a Euro an hour after that, which really isn’t at all that bad…

Back to the beginning! Yuri and I took off on Monday morning, after fretful packing and rethinking of what to bring the weekend prior. I myslef was able to take most of Sunday off, which was nice, and spend the day with my boyfriend Matt :) He was very kind and understanding of my frantic and scattered brain, and we had a great time at church, hiking, motorcycle ride, and then out to dinner and a movie back in Boulder – he treats me well!


The next morning, Yuri’s mom drove both of us to the airport, and it was goodbye America, hello Canada!! Wait, say what? Canada? Well, yes… our lovely 3-legged flight to London first dropped us off in Montreal (where we had to go through customs and fortunately the officer told me that if we didn’t change our own luggage over, it wouldn’t make it to London! Fortunately, he was right, and the lady in Denver who told us it would check through all the way was wrong… we got it on and it is all safe!) So, we had lunch in Montreal, and then caught our flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I’m sure it was pretty there, but we got there just before dark, and waited in the airport (free internet!) playing around and checking in with people until our 11:45 p.m. flight to London.


I was planning on trying to sleep the whole 6 hours, but that was near impossible in coach with the flight attendants feeding us both an hour after takeoff and 1.5 hours before landing. I think I got a little sleep, an hour at a time. Needless to say, by the time Yuri and I got to London, we were DONE with flying, and ready for walking! We caught the underground (tube) Picadilly line, and went to Kings Cross station in London. After a bit of lost walking around, I realized via our map that we had walked too far west and not far enough south, traced back, and found our hostel! Since it was about 1:30, and we couldn’t check in until 3:00, we were able to leave our luggage in a locked room, and took off to explore and walk out our leg cramps. With an all-day pass for the London underground, we were free to do what we liked! So, we went first to Hyde Park, where we saw beautiful flowers (including my namesake), the Serpintine River, geese, and of course had to stop for some ice cream :)



We then wandered over to the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, where we were able to see many pictures and paintings. The ones by Monet, Van Gogh, and another person who came as a surprise to me were among my favorites. I will have to research those and let you know who it was!

We then traveled to Trafalgar Square (sorry if I spelt that wrong!) and then on to Covent Garden. It was there that we saw a fun street performer, the apple market, and also the Royal Opera House! We couldn’t go in much past the gift shop in the opera house, but we did get pictures. That was enough for one jet-lagged day, so we headed back to the hostel (which was a converted courthouse!) and settled in for the night. It was an ok night of sleeping, though our window faced the main street and had to stay open (no air conditioning), so it was a little loud. But we took our time waking up, and after a lot of rest, headed out for another big day in London!

This day, June 24th, was Yuri’s 21st birthday!!! I’m sure not many of her friends could say that they spent their 21st birthday in London, haha. We had a lot of fun, starting with the very touristy sights of Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye. We got to be there when Big Ben struck 12:00 noon! It was very exciting, and we enjoyed seeing everything from the outside. They charge huge amounts for going into Westminster Abby and the London Eye, so we admired from a distance. After some more ice cream and some good chatting and lunch, we headed back on the tube for The Tower of London. I had not seen this on my last trip to London, so this was exciting for me :) However, the tube was experiencing some backups from some electrical fires earlier in the morning, so instead of going the short way around the Circle Line, we had to go the long way around! It was a welcome for our tired feet, but still ate up a bunch of time. Nevertheless, we got to the tower and walked around it and got a picture in front of Tower Bridge as well, which was beautiful.



We got back on the tube, and went to St. Paul’s Cathedral! It was another beautiful church, and the weather was nice and cool on that side of town. It was more in the business district, so it was neat to see all the people dressed up fancy and business-like. The people in London dress very professionally, and yet with style, and it is easy to appreciate their taste ;) Although, there is a trend over there that I am wondering when it will come to the US: Girls/women wearing shorter skirts and shorts, yet wearing full length dark black stockings/hose underneath! Not sure how this trend got started, but who knows, U.S.A. could be next! Next in my musings is how much I liked being around people from all over the world! I decided I really love the multiple ethnic groups seen both at the hostel and all over London, and am enjoying hearing the many different languages from all over the world. That has motivated me to really try hard to learn the Italian language so that I can start communicating with people at the grocery store and otherwise all over Florence when I get there!

One of our last stops of the day was the British Museum – mostly to see the Rosetta Stone on display. After oooooing and ahhhhhing over it (it is actually quite large!), Yuri went and saw the Asian artifacts on display, while I went to the Africa exhibit. It was a small, yet detailed part of the museum, and I enjoyed learning more about this part of the world. I recognized some of the clothes and patterns from when I went to South Africa, and I also saw a great display of large pots that was quite spectacular.



Well, talk about tired feet now!! Yuri had decided that she wanted to go to a restaurant called “Pizza on the Park” for her birthday, so we headed back on the tube to Hyde Park one last time. It was a lovely restaurant, and Yuri had her first public taste of wine, a white wine of the sauvignon blanc class, and I had a “sunrise sauvignon blanc” that was quite nice and refreshing. We had risotto for our appetizer, and then I got a “funghi” pizza (mushrooms!!) and Yuri had a pesto pasta dish. We shared, and were both quite stuffed by the time we were done! But that’s ok, because after dinner we took a long walk down to the royal Buckingham Palace to see it! It was gorgeous and quite ornate, with many guards (both traditionally dressed and non) and a beautiful statue dedicated to Queen Victoria out front. We admired it for a while, and then took a walk through Green Park back to the Picadilly line headed for “home.” We dropped some things off at the hostel, and then went back to McDonalds for free internet!! Hehe. We had discovered that they had free internet there the day before, so we took some time (and our computers) and I got to skype chat with both Matt and my family, yay!! It was wonderful to hear and see them both, and I got a little chocked up doing that :) Although, I was smiling so much, it might have been hard to tell ;)



We then had a bit of a rough night at the hostel trying to sleep, but with girls coming in and out of the room (10-bed girls room), and some packing at 2:30 a.m. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had to get up at 6:00 to start our day, so Thursday was a little rough. But, we made the tube to the Victoria bus station to the Stanstead airport! And, since we were flying Ryan Air, a low-cost (read: CHEAP and lots of hidden fees), we were worried that our luggage would be over the 15 kilo (33 pounds) limit for checked baggage. Miraculously, mine was only 14.4, and Yuri’s was a few over, but the guy said it was fine! It probably helped that we were joking with him, and the fact that he was helping Ryan Air as he was actually a Swiss Air operator!

After a bit of a rough flight (we were very tired, and the plane tried to land once, then suddenly pulled up right before we touched down and had to circle back around for another chance, then they couldn’t get the door unlocked and disarmed because there was a loss of power to the plane, lol), we made our way out, got our luggage, got our passports stamped, and were on a bus to Rome’s Termini station! Our hostel was quite close to the station, but were we tired and paid a cab to take us there. Well, he was close, but no cigar. So, after looking around a bit, I spotted it down the road!! So happy :) Whew!! And that is where my blog will have to end for now! This hostel is even better than the last one, and we have 6 very nice roommates, all around the same ages as ourselves.

They also fed us a free dinner of pasta when we got here, and also get a free breakfast in the mornings, yay! I’m all about low-cost meals ;)

Well, I wrote most of this blog on the night of June 25th, and am now posting it the morning of June 26th! Yuri and I have had breakfast, and are ready for the day. We are planning on the Coliseum and the surrounding ruins today, with perhaps the Trevi Fountain and Spanish step as well. Then tomorrow, it’s off to Vatican City first thing in the morning to beat the crowds, in our skirts of course, so we can go into St. Peter’s Basilica :)

Thanks for reading about our trip so far! I hope to update it again once we get to Florence and are settled with our host family and have met the other participants in the program!

~Heather


P.S. I tried to include several pics with this blog, but they weren't uploading! will try again tonight :)