ABBEY('s) ROAD

Has the end of our trip really come?

Bizarre to think about, so for now I won't, and instead will update you on the rest of our stay in Paris. Breakfast came the next morning and we got chatting to two guys from South California, a theatre teacher called Joey and a guy our age called Austin - the first person we've befriended our own age! Definitely some of our favourite people from this trip, they were so interesting and talking with Joey made us realise that IB Theatre was actually an incredible course and we know a LOT about theatre. He had a degree in theatre and was obviously now teaching it but we both felt like we could converse with him about it without embarrassing ourselves.

As I've said, Jill and I have both been to Paris numerous times before, but one thing I have never done is kissed Oscar Wilde's grave. After breakfast, in the pouring rain, we walked to the Pere Lachaise cemetery to pay our tributes to some of the greatest minds, including Moliere, Edith Piaf, Victor Hugo, and of course Oscar. It was raining SO hard. Our raincoats became saturated and useless while our map of the cemetery turned to pulp. We gave up on our route and just headed straight for Oscar, who was covered in lipstick kisses and nail varnish hearts and general graffiti of quotes and thank you messages. Neither of us had lipstick but I had some nail polish so I added a heart Made me remember a book of his complete works I saw in Waterstones. Definitely going to try and get that online somewhere.

It was raining so heavily at this point that it was ridiculous to try and do the rest of our plan which had been to walk along the river and see all the traditional sights that we've both seen before, so we headed back to our hostel and had some supermarket lunch. We then met a father and son from Northern California, Larry and Chayne, and after a half hour or so Joey and Austin wandered in from the rain as well! We bought some wine and sat around exchanging stories. At about four, the sky brightened up so we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and picnicked (is that the right spelling?) underneath it, which was so lovely. Coincidentally and at different times, Jill and I have both passed out at the top of the Eiffel Tower, so we decided not to bother queueing this time. From the tower we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysees, through the Tuileries and to the Louvre before getting the metro back. So eventually we did see everything we had planned to see on that day, just a little later, which was good because it was definitely less busy. We stayed up late last night talking about theatre and ambitions and it was just interesting how such a diverse group in terms of ages, backgrounds and priorities can get on so well. I've also been thinking about how strange it is that we have SOLELY befriended men on this trip. I think this is mostly because we have met NO girls our own age travelling, and women in their 20s tend to be a bit more condescending and unwilling to talk to teenagers than men in their 20s. We also met no British girls. The women we have met because the guys we were with met them were American, annoying and affected and weren't interested in learning about us.

Today we were window shopping at the Galeries Lafayette, amongst posh middle aged Parisian women who looked us up and down like we had no place being there. Little bit annoying seeing as it was eleven o clock on a Thursday morning, these women evidently didn't work and were just spending hubby's money. Of course I'd love to be wealthy enough to perhaps make an occasional purchase from the Lafayette but I would want it to be with money that I earnt. Just saying.

How odd to be packed up and ready to go home! How odd that we have to go back to school and go through the motions of Speech Day, Hampers, family birthday celebration, seeing the Hockerill lot again and then waiting for results. I think I'm in a bit of a daze about it and not really knowing what to expect.

Those of you who know me well will know how I love to list things, make lists, etc. So I thought, what better way to end the blogging experience than with some lists? We've thought up some good ones:

Six things we have learned from this trip
- Youth hostels are not always full of the youth.
- Eastern Europe is still dodgy.
- People who give directions are wrong 90% of the time.
- Women are irritating and unapproachable.
- Adults tell you 'nothing is free' but they are wrong. When you are young, a lot of stuff is free if you get up and ask for it.
- All the national stereotypes are completely accurate. Except the idea that British youth are the most badly behaved. On this trip we have encountered many school trips aged 14-15 and the Germans are definitely the worst. Or the French.

Five ways to save money on a budget
- Buy food from Lidl instead of restaurants. Make it yourself.
- ASK for discounts. Student discounts or free entries aren't advertised but are usually there.
- The bread and water on restaurant tables in Europe is very rarely free. Ask before you tuck in.
- If you see a free toilet, use it. You have to pay to use the loo in a lot of places.
- Have a birthday at some point on the trip and stay with generous friends who pay for everything?

Three ways in which Abbey irritated Jillian
- She made fun of me a LOT. E.g. every time I needed to pee.
- We would make a decision to be ugly for the day but then she would change her mind and put makeup on without telling me.
- She thought of three ways when I could only think of TWO.

Three ways in which Jillian irritated Abbey
- Absolutely no sense of direction. None. We could go from A to B five or six times and she would have no idea how to get there by herself.
- Money. I thought we could do the whole 'I pay for this now, you pay for something else later' thing but if you owe her TEN CENTS, she writes a little memo to herself on her hand and reminds me repeatedly throughout the day when we buy groceries, paying has to be split exactly in half etc. On the other hand, if you pay for something by yourself, she considers it YOURS and is reluctant to take any of it - a packet of crisps or something like that.
- When she's in a bad mood, she doesn't speak. She communicates entirely in body language, shrugs and nods that 50% answer the question and 50% say 'I HATE YOU, GO AND DIE ALONE'

Reasons these things didn't matter
- Because everything was absolutely hilarious, especially each other.
- Because Abbey let Jillian use her iPod all the time since she doesn't have one.
- Because Jillian did Abbey's arm whenever she asked.
- Because we never ran out of interesting conversation.
- Because we're good friends, and we know how to read each other's moods and gauge what might be a little too far at a particular time.
- Because we drank a lot of wine on this trip.

Members of society we now despise
- People who walk quickly in train stations.
- People who walk s l o w l y in train stations.
- People who haven't dressed for the weather.
- People who judge us for not dressing for the weather.
- Everyone older than us.
- Everyone younger than us.
- Everyone our age.
- People who have their screaming babies in youth hostels and can't control them.
- People who are very comfortable with nudity in communal bathrooms etc.
- Anyone who wants to sell us anything.
- Men.
- Women.
- Children.
- Slovenians.
- People with no spatial awareness.
- People who stand VERY CLOSE BEHIND YOU at a ticket machine, tutting and trying to move you along.
- People who take FOREVER at a ticket machine.
- Loud people.
- People who think we're too loud.
- People who don't understand that carrying a 65 litre rucksack means I need more space than you.
- People who judge us for eating fast food while travelling.

Thank you SO SO MUCH to everyone who has read this blog, especially those who have been reading since the beginning. I hope at some point in the near future I can travel and blog again and I will have the same lovely readers I have had for the last month. You have all filled me with confidence about my writing and I have just loved reading all your comments and messages so much!

I have learnt so much from this trip, as I knew I would, and I feel there are certain parts of me, some of my values and priorities and thoughts, that have changed for good. I hope my writing has improved, I hope I am more independent and more approachable and more interested in other people. I hope I am less lazy and better at reading a map and have a better appreciation of money and food (and how the two affect each other haha).

Looking forward to seeing you all again tomorrow or at Speech Day!

Lots, lots, lots of love and some wanderlust a little satisfied,
Abbey x

I am so so so sorry that I have been absent from this blog for...four or five days! I was absolutely unable to get internet in Barcelona and I was so busy the entire time I was there. Now that we are in Paris, I have checked into an Internet cafe to update you on everything since Rome.

Firstly, thank you so much to all my family for the birthday messages they left on this blog! What a lovely way to see some happy birthdays I will talk more (but not much more) about my birthday celebrations later

So, where did I leave you...disappointed in Rome. Unfortunately the disappointment only continued as we headed out of Rome into Pompeii. It took us a very long time to get there, and when we did it was the middle of the day and very hot. We got our usual free entrance but they had no maps of the town available. This was really irritating when we got inside because Pompeii is actually a LOT bigger than you think. It's a small city really and it's impossible to find your way around. The maps on signs inside the city are useless because they don't face the correct directions and everybody we saw inside was lost. There are no helping members of staff. There are no toilets in the city, you have to make your way (somehow) to one of the countless exits which is basically impossible. I filled a water bottle at a tap clearly labelled 'drinking water' and actually retched after swallowing what was definitely not safe to drink. Pompeii itself is beautiful, a ghost town, and the amount of history is of course extremely interesting. However, the poor organisation, lack of help and information kind of spoiled it for us, especially since we were so sick of Rome in that aspect already.

We just did not feel welcome in Rome. Obviously there are so, so many tourists, on a scale I had never seen before, which must be very frustrating for those that live in the city. There must be some kind of hatred of tourists breeding there because we were just very unwanted. In restaurants, at tourist information spots, at the sights, the customer service was poor and any reason to kick you out or not let you in was taken. While we could enter the Vatican City, for example, (although only after making our way through airport-style security), we were not allowed in any of its museums because we weren't appropriately dressed'. I had brought a cardigan with me especially for the purpose of covering my shoulders but I was told my legs were too much on show, and so was Jillian. Everywhere else we have been, they have had some flimsy paper capes you can wrap around yourself but not in Rome. You have to buy a scarf from the gift shop or they will just send you away. We watched hundreds of tourists sent away and could only conclucde that tourist sights in Rome make a conscious effort to get rid of a lot of people. We were treated very rudely in some places, nobody spoke English (or they refused to) and, already frustrated from the heat and the crowds, we were just unhappy most of the time we were there! Except when we were in our hostel, which we really loved.

On to Barcelona then! Our night train which we had been forced to pay too much money for was also staffed by rude Romans who refused to speak English or to help in any way. In fairness, the beds were comfy and I've realised it's actually really nice to sleep with the rhythm of the train when you can sleep properly. Anyway we shared our four bunk compartment with a mother and daughter from Kansas who were travelling...Cathy and Elyse. They were lovely and we had some interesting conversations about university and the differences between the American system and the British one etc.

Blogging about Barcelona is going to be quite tricky. I made sure I saw SOME things - the Sagrada Familia, for example, the original part of which was beautiful but the newly built parts of which are just awful and a travesty to the building - La Rambla, although there were no statues - the port and Park Guell and so on - as well as a lot of the old part of the city because that's where Luis lives - but I won't lie to you, the entire weekend was pretty much about celebrating my birthday and a lot of that can't really go on here I will say this though - my wanderlust is now a true part of me

For those of you who know the whole deal about Luis and seeing him and staying with him and so on - it was a weird experience but brilliant as well. There aren't really that many people that I've known as long as I've known Luis so to finally spend time with him was really wonderful. Oh, and to quell the doubts - he's 100% ginger.

My birthday weekend coincided with a dance music festival called Sonar which was INCREDIBLE. I have never been to anything like that, in terms of scale or anything...wow. Some friends split my tickets so I didn't pay to get in - in fact, I paid for nothing all weekend in Barcelona because my friends covered it for me So lovely. The night was insane. I just can't even describe how good. Google the lineup if you like dance music and you will see why it just blew our minds

Anyway I guess that's all I will say about my birthday bearing in mind how much of my family reads this blog I had an incredible weekend and a lot of love came my way on my birthday from all over the world and that was really special for me. Thank you so much. Barcelona was such a wonderful place to spend it as well. The atmosphere there is incredible, absolutely thriving and buzzing. There's always something going on, there's always music playing somewhere, everything is in walking distance, there's food and drink everywhere, everything is reasonably priced. Everyone is attractive and well dressed and having a good time, no one is in a rush to get anywhere, it's very laid back. There is a huge expat community there so we actually didn't hear a lot of Spanish. Luis says all the best people from every country have moved to Barcelona - all the least irritating Americans, all the least hooligan-y Brits, and so on. We met people from a ton of different nationalities just sitting in the flat we stayed in and their lifestyle is so different from anything I've experienced before. Jillian didn't really spend a lot of time with us because she was seeing Susy and Carlota, so her experience of Barca was probably quite different and I know she's been a lot of times before, but she was at Sonar for my birthday and she really loved it which I was so happy about because that sort of thing is usually not her scene.

We were forced to pay 77 euros for our night train to Paris as well which angered us, but really we had no option. This train was even comfier and the staff were much nicer...probably my best night of sleep on the whole trip actually! We arrived today and so far we have walked up to Montmartre and wandered around. We have both been to Paris quite a few times before so really this is just a winding down of the trip rather than a new exploration for us. Montmartre was as beautiful as ever. There was an incredible singer-songwriter on the steps leading up to the Sacre Coeur and we sat watching and listening to him for hours, looking out over that incredible view of Paris. It was such a great moment. He needed a girl to sing the high parts of Thriller - guess who volunteered...

We were quite worried about our hostel here because we'd seen some poor recent reviews of security, but when we checked in we somehow managed to wangle a private double room?! We've paid for beds in a dormitory but they've upgraded us or something. We now have a double room with ensuite shower and let me tell you, the privacy is HEAVENLY. I'd forgotten what it's like to not be in communal bathrooms, bearing in mind I came on this trip straight from a long term at boarding school. Even though we are obviously still sharing in very close proximity with each other, it feels like the most private accommodation in the world. Much more secure as well. No idea how we've managed that though, I hope it's not taken away from us at the last minute haha!

Sorry this blog is so late and little. It's sad (terribly sad) but I guess the trip is just winding down now. Day after tomorrow we're headed back to England which is something I'm really struggling to process. I don't know what it's going to be like to be back at Hockerill for rehearsals and so on, to see all our friends who have just been at home for the past month. I think I will be really restless.

Lots of love and wanderlust (which is now a real part of me),
Abbey x

Helloooo from Roma!

It is so, so hot. I think it's thirty and very sunny and we are both struggling a bit although hopefully, hopefully I am tanning. I don't really understand why but I brought loads of tshirts on this trip and hardly any tank tops, unlike Jill who is tank tops galore. I think I had some idea of covering up my chest or something...anyway, the result is that my arms are really tanned but my chest is WHITE, which has been interesting today wearing a strapless dress. I think Jill is actually darker than me now, she tans so fast.

Arriving in Rome yesterday we headed straight to the ticket office to confirm our train to Barcelona and make reservations, as we do every time we arrive in a city. The times I had written down were correct so we made reservations. The man clicked away on his computer and then said 'Thank you. One hundred and seventy euros please'.

:|

Excuse me?!

As it turns out, because we are changing in Milan, we have to have a reservation for Rome-Milan, then a separate reservation for Milan-Barcelona. On top of this, the train to Barcelona is some 'special train' that only has sleeper cars and no ordinary seats which is what we've been having so far. The beds are seventy euros EACH to rent! Obviously we had no option except to pay, especially after queuing for forty minutes to even see the ticket man, but I'm still pretty indignant that we are paying more for one night on a train than we have spent for three/four nights in any hostel so far. Very thankful I didn't spend the money my dad sent me for 'coffee in the St. Regis and a foot massage'.

Don't get me wrong, Rome is pretty. So ancient and everything is so famous. But there are just too many people. My fear for Rome was that we wouldn't be able to enjoy it because there would just be too many people around and to some extent, this has been true. On our first day we headed from our hostel to Piazza della Republica, which was lovely, but I just couldn't appreciate it. Rome seems to have also made the awful mistake of allowing its main roads to run through all the most important sites. It seems impossible to get away from traffic! Apparently, Romans don't work, they just DRIVE ALL DAY THROUGH THE CITY. It's so hectic and loud and difficult to navigate. After the Piazza we headed north so see the Spanish steps, which were as impressive as we had heard but you could barely move on them. We ended up just sitting down because moving anywhere was impossible. We started at the top and headed down - at the bottom is a fountain which I hadn't heard about but must have some reputation for good luck because mothers were dunking their children's heads underneath it and other people were stepping on just to put one hand in it and so on. I did it just in case it did bring luck. I say that but what actually happened is that Jill and I made a sarky joke about it and pretended we felt instantly cleansed and pured. People must hate us, we are so intolerant of everyone around us hahah. This will be elaborated upon in our final blog (how sad to even mention it!) which we are already planning.
Anyway, from there we were sort of borne along with the crowd towards the Trevi Fountain. We came from behind it which was quite funny because there are so many people in front of it, if you come at it from that angle it looks like they are all waiting for a show to start. Just hundreds and hundreds of people. The fountain was so stunning but after taking a couple of photos I was just over the crush and had to get out. We were squeezed out and fell into this group of Indian men selling those bubble guns you can get? They instantly turned on us and sprayed us with bubbles, an interesting selling technique I hadn't seen before and one which certainly did not work. Soapy, sweaty and sick of everyone, we made an about turn to watch the changing of the guard at the Quirinale (hilarious) and walked past the Quattro Fontane on the way back to the hostel. I napped. I'm getting quite into my napping now.

The hostel is my favourite so far! It's so cute. It's called Papaya Female Hostel, and the owner seems to have just bought an apartment and converted it. There are only four airy rooms and two lovely bathrooms, and only women can stay here. There's also a kitchen and two computers we can all use for free. It's only about half full and there are rarely any hostel staff here so it's just like girls living in an apartment really. This is also the only hostel where the rooms are cleaned properly during the day and they even make your bed for you! It's also in a really non-central location, east of the station, which means a ton of cheap food places. Last night for dinner we went to a pizzeria where I had a slightly greasy but yummy Diavolo for six euros, while Jill had gnocchi for the same price. We noticed you could get a litre of red wine for FIVE FIFTY! We didn't though. A basket of bread was one euro so I bought it and we used it for lunch today...cheapo ahaha.

Hopped on the metro this morning after a cappucino and a croissant and hopped off at the Colosseo. We had to queue for an hour or something but we got under 18 free entry while everyone else had to pay twelve euros and this got us a pass to the Colosseo, the Palatino and the Foro. This was all ANCIENT and very impressive. We keep doing this super cheeky thing of following tour groups through these places (very subtly of course) so we get the same information the group paid twenty euros for. That's probably theft but meh, what can you do. Four hundred thousand people died in the Colosseo!

North to the Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuele II and we just wanted to sit in the shade and eat but there was NOWHERE. Once again we were right on the main road and couldn't really navigate, very stressful. In the end we ate on a roundabout in the middle of this road (classy), next to one of those sellers that harass you constantly. I did feel bad though when he counted his parasols and he'd only sold two or something. He looked really beaten down and anxious, I felt sorry for him. Not enough to spend five euros on a parasol, but quite a lot.

I just wanted to get off the main road so we navigated a stupidly tricky backstreet way to the Campo de Fiori, but this was actually really pretty and local and untouristy and probably my favourite part of the day, actually. Campo de Fiori was covered in expensive pizza places and a fruit market. Piazza Navona with its fountains and columns was more impressive, but again just crawling with people so we escaped as fast as we could towards the lesser known Pantheon, which was actually stunning. According to the tour guide we illegally followed, its dimensions are a perfect 144 feet wide, 144 feet deep, 144 feet high and 144 feet diagonally, as it was designed to house a perfect sphere. There is a hole in the roof and with the sun streaming through it was quite a hazy and dizzying effect inside.

We cooled down in there for twenty minutes or so and looking at the map, realised we had covered the entire east bank of the river. We took the bus back to the hostel, which was MUCH more complicated than it sounds. You can only buy bus tickets at Tabacchi shops, which are ABUNDANT when you are not interested but when you want to get a bus, there is only one in a ten mile radius. All public transport in Rome is one euro though so this might be worth it. Blows my mind that I have to pay five francs (about three pounds sixty, or four euro eleven) to get the bus anywhere in Switzerland. So much cheaper everywhere else in Europe! Anyway we finally managed to get the bus to the station and stopped at one of these brilliant Italian supermarkets we keep finding to stock up on cheap food for the picnic dinner we are planning tonight and for lunch tomorrow. We bought prosciutto, brie, bread, peaches, olives and ice tea and only paid ten euros. I'm talking so much about food on the blog at the moment! I can't help in Italy. We are eating like kings.

Tomorrow we are going to Pompeii! Which is adventurous of us. I think we are going to be spending seven hours travelling in total tomorrow, for only about five hours in Pompeii, but I feel like we just can't miss it. I remember in Year 9 or something some of my friends went and just sung its praises. I'm so, so excited. We decided to take the three hour Regionale to Naples instead of the one hour Frecciarossa to avoid the ten euro compulsory reservation fee, meaning we'll be in Pompeii when the sun is at its hottest, but still. I think it will be a highlight, I can't wait to see it. On our final day we are heading to the Vatican!

Blogs haven't been very long lately but they have been more frequent. Hope you are keeping up and still enjoying them!

Lots of love and wanderlust,
Abbey x

For dinner last nght we returned to Dante, where we fought for the free wine yesterday. We met up with PJ's friend from Singapore, Beck, and the four of us managed to wangle TWO free bottles of wine this time, as well as ordering the tastiest most wonderful pasta, mmmmmm. I had farfalline I think, with some special ham and scamorza cheese and cream and a big portion and just WHY ISN'T ALL FOOD LIKE THIS?!?!

It was a beautiful evening and the gelaterias were all open so we got some cheap stuff and decided to walk back to the hostel. It was five kilometres uphill and we had zero idea where we were going but that was the fun of it, I was practising my spontaneity Sixty percent of the streetlights in Italy don't work so we had to take detours just to be able to look at the map. Honestly I am so grateful for the map reading skill that was drilled into me as a child. It was a hilarious but tiring walk and I just about keeled over as soon as we got in! It feels so fulfilling to fall asleep instantly at the end of every day

This morning we bid farewell to PJ, we won't be seeing him until Rome. It was a sad moment! Not looking forward to saying goodbye to him forever We met his roommate Omar this morning though who is also from Canada so we'll spend some time getting to know him I guess! Also some German bikers have just walked in. The people we are meeting are sounding dodgier and dodgier but I promise they are all lovely

We spent today in Siena and it was my favourite city so far oh it was just achingly beautiful. It centres around the Piazza del Campo which is fan shaped and filled with people just sitting eating and staring at the Palazzo Publico on the other side, which is turreted and magnificant. After this we saw the Duomo which was once again stunning. The inside was just...so worth the three euros it costs to get in. It's got 56 sections or something which were worked on for two centuries by forty artists. I have never seen ceilings or floors like that. It didn't have the emotional power that the Basilica in Vienna touched us with but it was so obviously a masterpiece, artistically and architecturally. I sound like a ponce but I wish I knew enough about it to discuss it properly.
After this the only option was to wander through the paved streets, through the endless bready smells and pastry displays and piles of ice cream. We couldn't cheat on our ice cream man though so we restrained ourselves and continued our exploration of the labyrinth of ancient stone. Sounding even more like a ponce. Completely by accident we fell down a hill and into a wine label, this gorgeous view over the Tuscan hills.

This phenomenon of accidents we've been encountering has been my favourite thing about this trip I think. Whenever I hear about trips like this I'm always jealous of other people's 'so then completely by accident' stories and I never thought my life would pan out that way but it really has. All my expectations on that front have been met because so many wonderful things have happened to us accidentally! One of which I will explain later.

Back in Florence we went right back to our ice cream place! He laughed out loud when he saw us and I had four scoops this time:
Amarena or Amareno - cherry and yoghurt
Bacio - Nutella
Formaggio Pera - cream cheese and apricot
Persiano - rosewater. This was weird but good.
Then we were given a free banana scoop (you can imagine what I will say about it) and he introduced us to his wife and daughter and told us a little about the history of the place and his job and so on. I feel like his best friend now.

Much as I had hoped to avoid any contact with Jersey Shore, we literally almost walked into J-Woww and the TV crew on the street as we left the gelateria. She was heading to the 99 cent shop, mumbling to herself, or the cameras, direct quote:
"We are not going back to that street again. I'll wham her with my coconut."
We may well be on TV. She was actually in good shape, pretty toned, aside from her fake boobs, but her skin in real life is really bad, so much fake tan and just blegh. Jill got in a bit of a tizzy and rang Issy straight away ahah - another example of the weird accidents that keep happening to us!

Sorry this is short but it's just one day, there's a queue for the internet and Omar and the bikers have bought beers for us, they are only one fifty here! I have eaten 100g of poppadoms today. I am gaining weight so fast in Italy. Rome tomorrow, but I don't want to leave Tuscany! We've had the best food, the best wine which was all free, some really wonderful company, cheap and delicious fresh food stores, oh it's just wonderful. Somewhere I will definitely return to. To live in Siena! I'll have to marry an Italian.

Missing you all. I started Anna Karenina on the first day of this trip and I've finished it now! A big moment in everyone's life I think.

Lots of love and wanderlust,
Abbey x

This is the second time I have written this blog. I wrote it for the first time and the hostel's internet crashed, so I finished it and saved it as an eight page word file on the system. Turns out the entire system crashed and I've lost everything. I'm going to rewrite it because I'm just that dedicated, but be warned that I am no longer in as good as mood as I was when I wrote it for the first time. Grrrr.

On a train to Pisa as I write this first part of the entry - which was not our plan in the slightest. We had planned to go to Siena today but half the trains are cancelled on a Sunday apparently - althugh I have no idea which trains because there is no identifiable structure to anything in this country. The train stations in Italy make no kind of sense! Anyway there was a train going to Pisa so we hopped on to see the Leaning Tower - it's only an hour away. I remember that there was originally a smiley face here but I'm going to omit it the second time around because I'm bitter.

We are still travelling with PJ who has become our adopted big brother. He didn't come with to Pisa today because he was meeting a friend from Singapore, but he accompanied us yesterday around Florence. As was the case in Venice, here in Florence we have coincidentally booked the same hostel and although he leaves here earlier than us, he will also be in Rome around the same time as us. It has been lovely to have an extra person in our group all the time.

Our hostel is gorgeou sfrom the outside - a Tuscan villa in the hills, 20 minutes and a disgusting uphill walk from the city, but the inside is quite dirty and I'm 90% sure I've seen a bedbug in my bed. The shower is powerful though. The lady who runs breakfast is crazy, but insanity seems to be a prerequisite for any job managing breakfast at a hostel. They have all been insane.

On the bus down to Florence today, we finally met some people our own age! They were some guys who had also done the IB so we exchanged dread for July 6th. They went to an international school in Geneva and when I mentioned that I'd gone to Riverside, they'd not only heard of it but one of them had gone to primary school at ISOZ and knew all my friends from Zug! His name was Andy Fox if any of you are reading this. Tiny world.

Our day started properly in Piazza San Marco, because that's our most central bus stop, only a short walk from the Galleria dell'Academia, which houses David. The queue was actually not bad at all, maybe 15 minutes, and we were behind some hilarious American honeymooners who had come from Venice but hadn't been to Burano :O fools. We got to the front and PJ had to pay ELEVEN euros, but if you are an EU citizen under 18 in Florence, entry to just about everything is free. Never have we been so grateful for summer birthdays.

David was mind-blowingly special. He was absolutely HUGE and just stunning. The three of us sort of stood there open mouthed for a while. The detail is incredible. Every muscle, vein and joint had been sculpted perfectly. It was really just awesome - in the true sense of the word.

After this we were already ready for an ice cream break so we walked down Via Faenza to an ice cream place recommended in PJ's (highly superior) guide book. It was called Antica Gelateria Fiorentina or something like that and it's run by one guy who makes all the ice cream himself and experiments with different flavours. I know I have already said on this blog that I had the best ice cream in the world but I spoke too soon. This was the best ice cream in the world. He takes the key ingredient and literally just mixes it with cream, water and sugar. We know this because we have been there so often that he took us backstage to see the process haha. More on that later.
My first three flavours were:
Talentissimo - Buon Talenti is a traditional Florentine flavour made of special vanilla and cream, which we had tried the day before in a different place. Talentissimo is that mixed with nuts and chocolate. So creamy.
Ambrosia - yoghurt mixed with cinnamon and honey. This was achingly addictive, I was basically licking the bowl.
Biscottini - biscuit in ice cream form. Better than all biscuits.

Walking towards Santa Maria Novella, PJ and Jill got a bit peckish so we stopped at an Alimentari which was covered with meat and cheese and wine and pasta, stacked and hung on the floor and walls and ceiling. They made fresh sandwiches for you for two fifty so they got one to share. I had a bite and it was gooood.

When we got to Santa Maria Novella, there was a long queue waiting for the wedding inside to finish. How rich do you have to be to get married in Santa Maria Novella! Incredible. We didn't bother queueing because the wedding also meant the doors were thrown open and we could see the famous stained glass window from the outside. It was cool but I was more interested in seeing the dresses and suits of the wealthy. Jill fed a bird.

Next stop was the Duomo. I can't stop thinking about how these cities are like the Tardis, how do these massive structures fit inside?! The Duomo is impossively large. I was expecting something like the Duomo in Milan but this was even better. It's the most impressive building I have ever seen, covered on the outside with patterns and faded colours and statues. It must have taken centuries. I don't even understand how it was achieved. We didn't go up the dome because it was eight euros just to climb 440 steps, seemed a little excessive to me. We admired the outside instead.

After this was what I had been looking forward to most - Basilica San Croce. This had been my must see because it is where the most brilliant minds in history are buried. Jillian wasn't allowed in because her clothes were too skimpy so I paid the three euro 11-17 ticket and went in by myself. It was haunting, to stand amongst the tombs of these incredible people - Michelangelo, Macchiavelli, Dante and Galileo to name a few. The tombs were so ornate and a real tribute to them. It reminded me how little I know about what these people stood and worked for and how much there is for me to read. There were no women at all in this place, just as a sidenote.

In Palazzo Vecchio, there is an imitation David that has nothing on the real thing but my Dad told me in his five page comment on the last blog that a lot of people just see that one! If you ever plan this, do not do it. The real one is 100 times better. The line for the Uffizi at this time was stupid so we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, which was thronged with tourists (is it hypocritical of us to hate all tourists?), and through Piazza dei Pitti which houses another enormous palace, into the San Spirito studenty area. We were looking for a place to eat but it was three thirty and everywhere was closed. Completely accidentally we ran into two guys PJ had met in London. Apparently Jersey Shore are currently filming in Florence, working at a pizzeria behind the bridge and these guys had walked past them on a cigarette break. This made Jillian and PJ quite excited to see them too but I was 100% uninterested in this idea. How sad to think that there are queues outside their pizza place and that people have come to this city and then queued to see some of the stupidest, ugliest, most unjustly rich people in the world. We eventually sat down in a place called Dante to eat which offers a free bottle wine with every meal to students! We were told it was only students in Florence but we kicked up a fuss and got a free bottle of Chianti with three pizzas, although we had to fight for it. I had a Capricciosa I think, it had everything on it anyway, and it was good.

Back to the Uffizi about an hour before closing time and the queue was only about ten minutes long before once again, we were granted free entry. I like art but I'm no art buff and know very little about anything, but even I could appreciate the mastery of some of these paintings and sculptures. Highlights were definitely Birth of Venus (Botticelli?) and David and Bathsheba (Brucascoro? Could be horribly wrong).

Post-Uffizi and time for our second ice cream. This time I had:
Cheesecake - this was like eating cheesecake except with an extra dose of cold happiness.
Dolcelatte - caramel, but with heaven added.
Crema all'Arancia - this was French vanilla with orange peel. I cannot describe to you how wonderfully fresh and zesty and joyous this was.

On this day Jillian's flavours were: mango (x2), peanut butter and chocolate, cheesecake, green tea, and buon talenti.

Bussed and walked back up and I fell asleep straight away. At seven.

So today we were in Pisa! It was a fun half day out. The tower is just leaning far more than you could ever expect or see in pictures, we both just burst out laughing when we saw it. It's definitely the funniest monument. There is just no way it can be holding itself up. The reason you wno't have seen it in a picture is because it's basically impossible to take a picture for some reason. you have to be right on the ground and even then if you angle your camera upwards you lose it completely and it just looks straight. That's why you've seen all those pictures of people trying to push up or over a tower that looks completely straight. Instead we fell about laughing at all the people posing for these pictures and I took maybe 30 pictures of towerless poses, which are possibly the funniest pictures I have ever seen or taken.
After the tower there isn't really much to do in Pisa except wander, and it isn't as nice as Florence, so after a yummy parma ham and mozarella foccaccia ciabatta whatever, we headed back, straight to ice cream place for the third time. The guy looked delighted yet bemused to see us Today I had:
Kiwi - this was a kiwi. Except better.
Peanut butter and chocolate - had actual peanuts and chocolate bits in them, it was like eating it from the jar except colder and more like pure joy
Mint - so refreshing.

Am I too enthusiastic about this ice cream? He said that he was just whipping up a fresh batch of melon and we could have a free scoop if we stuck around. We had it and it was EXACTLY LIKE A MELON. I would rather eat that than a melon. I asked him how he possibly could do it which is when he took us behind shop to show us that he just uses real fruit instead of flavouring. I wonder if he makes a profit. When I am older, if I can't find a job I will work for him. And then he'll leave the shop to me and I'll make ice cream all day. That would be just fine.

Tomorrow we are hopefully going to Siena! Hope you are all well, we are missing you. As we enter our final ten days (it pains me to write that) we are comforting ourselves by reminding ourselves of the things we will enjoy when we are not touring anymore, such as having food readily available instead of having to seek it. Personally I will feel a massive blow when this comes to an end. Nothing like this will ever happen to us again.

I'm eighteen on Saturday!!!!!!!

Lots of love and wanderlust,
Abbey

PS I'm sorry about how rubbish this turned out to be. It was so much better the first time round.