skydiving in switzerland and the world's best milk chocolate

So after deciding to head to interlaken instead of zurich, i immediately started researching skydiving and book a flight for the day we arrived in switzerland! Kelsey and i took our first night train from Florence to Interlaken, and it was quite the experience. Six beds in really crammed quarters made me so nervous and paranoid that i barely got any sleep and was exhausted when we got there. And when we go to our hostel we found out we couldn't check in until 4 so we had to just sit around for awhile. But we took a nap and refreshed ourselves a bit before i headed off to skydive and Kelsey went to canyoning.

It was a cloudy day, so not ideal for skydiving but it was still amazing! The guys running it were really funny and entertaining and i didn't even have time to process what i was doing until i was already in the plane! It was so crazy just falling out of the plane! We did a few flips and stuff and i loved every minute of it! I had paid for a photographer/videographer to tape everything but unfortunately the lens on his camera had moisture in it so i wasn't able to get anything back :( Oh well, just an excuse to do it again!!

The next day, we were still a little tired and were researching short hikes to do, since the alps were SO gorgeous, and we came across a fruit hike! It went through areas where different fruits were made and ended with a fresh apple fritter, so we bought our $13 ticket and headed out to do that... The ride took forever, but the scenery was amazing! When we got there, we couldn't find the fruit hike trail, plus it was really cod so we decided to just get some lunch and head back down...That's when we discovered that we had somehow gotten on the wrong train and were at the top of a mountain that we should have paid $56 for! Haha we had no idea we were even in the wrong place and the ticket people let us go back down for free!

After that, we went to a chocolate show at the Schuh hotel downtown. I guess there is a chocolate convention in Italy every year where they vote on the best chocolate from around the world and Schuh's milk chocolate has been voted number 1 for 3 years in a row! And let me just say...it was amazing!! I bought some to bring home, so if it doesn't melt or i don't get too hungry, i might let you try some :)

So now, we're in Austria and about to get in our room...should be interesting! So far, the hostels i've stayed in have been great and i've met some really cool people, so hopefully they will be like that the rest of the trip! I'll try to upload pics soon!

venice, cinque terre, and the last of florence

My last weekend in Italy was a whirlwind! Samantha and I caught an early train to Venice and spent the day there. We had a gondola ride and wandered around the city, which was beautiful! While we were there, we went to Harry's Bar, which is a famous restaurant that has been around since the 1930's, which Hemingway and Orson Welles frequented, as well as other celebrities. We met the grandaghter of the man who started it and she is now running the business as well as several other restaurants that she has opened in the states called Cipriani. She was so nice and gave us a great price for our meal, with free dessert!

After talking to her for awhile, she told us that she had 3 daughters around our age back in Milan and she would love for us to come stay with her there sometime! So, Samantha and I realllly want to come back next summer and stay at her house in Milan...so i'll keep you updated on that :)

The next day, we took a train to Cinque Terre and spend the whole day hiking from the first town to the last. It was a long hike but had a beautiful view! We were doing fine until the sun came out and made us go a little slower, but we did it! The next day, we spent the whole day at the beach in the last town. It was a much needed relaxing time and was so fun with the group of 8 girls that went.

My last week I have been busy cramming in everything i wanted to do in Florence. It was a local holiday on Wednesday and we had been planning on going to Sienna but unfortunately that fell through. There were fireworks over the river that night that were beautiful and the Italian people are so funny when they watch them! They let out big ooh's and aah's when the fireworks are extra big...very entertaining!

i can't believe i'm done here! It seems like i just got here yesterday! I've spent the day packing and i didn't think that i had bought very much but for some reason it was a lot harder to pack. I leave in a bout an hour for Interlaken, Switzerland to start my next adventure! I'm going skydiving tomorrow there and can't wait!! I'll update as often as i can but i'm not sure what my internet situation will be...love and miss you all!!

the amalfi coast

So i'm about a week behind on posts...sorry! Like i've said before, the time absolutely flies by here! But 2 weekend ago, i went on a school trip to the Amalfi coast! It was sooo beautiful!! We had a couple chartered buses for the 9 hour journey and Samantha and i somehow ended up having our own seats so we got to lay down and sleep. :)

We stopped in Naples before getting to the coast and had about 2 hours to get some lunch and walk around. One of our school guides was actually from Naples so we followed him to lunch at a little pizza place down by the docks that was the best pizza i have ever eaten!! I found out later that pizza was actually invented in Naples so i guess that's why it was so delicious! After lunch, we headed to our hotel on the coast and the next morning we hopped on a ferry to the island of Capri...which is probably the most beautiful place i have ever been!

We decided to get a private boat tour with about 15 other girls and it took us all around the island and the caves. The water was absolutely gorgeous and the weather could not have been any better! We even saw Roberto Cavalli's yacht! It was insane. After our boat tour, we took a little train up to the top of the island where all the shops are and hung out there before heading back to our hotel.

The next morning we went to Pompeii and toured the ruins. It was so crazy to see a city that has been preserved since 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. You could still see the wheel marks in the street from their chariots! It was reeeeally hot though so i probably would have enjoyed it more had it been a little cooler, but it was still really interesting. So yeah, after that we got on our buses again and headed back to Florence.

The next day in class, i was talking to one of my friends about what she had done the previous weekend and she said she went to Interlaken, Switzerland and went skydiving! She said it was the most fun she's had on this trip and that everyone should go there because it's beautiful. So Kelsey and i decided to exchange our ticket to Zurich for one to Interlaken and it worked out perfectly at no extra charge...so now i am planning on skydiving in the Swiss Alps!!! Can't wait!!!!!!

roman holiday

I can't believe how fast my time in Florence is flying by! I'm really bad at updating this...one because our internet connection is less than ideal and, two because i'm so busy during that day all i want to do in my free time is sleep! But this past weekend, Samantha and I went to Rome! We decided to stay just one night and had everything planned out perfectly: leave on the 6:40 train on Friday morning, arrive in Rome at 8:30, head to our prepaid tour of Vatican City at 9:30 and see some random things around the city then the next day go to the Coliseum and see whatever else we wanted to. Funny how plans just don't work out sometime....

Well we got to the train station bright and early Friday morning about 6:20 so we figured we had time to get a bite to eat. After grabbing some breakfast, we checked the display for the status on our train and were confused to find a train leaving for Rome at 6:30 and 6:45, not our 6:40. We thought surely there must be a mistake, thinking there was no way they would move the train up 10 minutes but we went ahead and went over to the 6:30 train just to make sure. As we walked up, it started puling away. Cue panic.

We ran to the other train and boarded it only to find that it wouldn't arrive in Rome until 11:30...way past the start of our tour of the Vatican. So we ran around trying to find someone to help us, my muffin smashing under the tension of my nervously clenched fists, and finally found a man who said that we actually hadn't missed our train, but it was just labeled as heading to Naples since that was its final destination. And how were we supposed to know that??? So we ran over to the Naples train... just as it was pulling away....Cue intense panic.

Our hopes were raised and crushed multiple times within a matter of minutes. So we decided to go ahead and board the train that wouldn't arrive until 11:30, hoping that our more expensive ticket that we had bought for our 6:40 train would work for this train and that we could somehow rebook our nonrefundable Vatican tour. The four and half hour train ride seemed like 10 hours. Finally we arrived in Rome and called the Vatican tour place and they said our ticket was good for 24 hours and we could just go the next day at the same time! What a relief!

So the first day we went to the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Tomb of an Unknown Soldier. We were on our feet all day long and were so tired. We stopped in a Piazza that had a bunch of fountains in it and stuck our feet in the fountain...and it was SO refreshing. As we were leaving that piazza, we heard a woman scream and looked over just in time to see one of those 4 passenger bicycle carts things come flying down a hill into 2 parked cars!! The women inside flew out and after seeing that everyone was ok, Samantha and i burst out laughing because it was probably one of the most hilarious things i've ever witnessed! One of those, you had to be there things. :)

Anyways, Even though our day started out incredible stressful, it ended well in my hostel experience at the cheesily named Hostel Beautiful. We got upgraded for free to private room, which was very nice! It wasn't anything amazing but it was a comfy bed and a good nights sleep. The next morning we were up bright and early to go on our 4 hour Vatican Tour. We were guided through the Museum, which had hundreds of paintings and sculptures, such as the School of Athens, and ended with the Sistine Chapel.

SO incredible! I was expecting there to be guards everywhere telling you not to take pictures but when we entered, everyone was taking pictures! I didn't see a single guard! There were so many people there and it was really crowded but it was still so amazing to see the room and paintings that I've heard about my entire life! After that, we toured St. Peter's Basilica, which is massive, and then headed across the river to the Pantheon and then walked around for awhile. We saw everything we wanted to see and were home by 10 that night! It was an exhausting trip but very exciting and full of beauty. I'll post the pics sometime soon!

david beckham :)

Today we went to the Florence vs. AC Milan soccer game at Florence's stadium on the outskirts of town. Samantha and i decided to take the bus there to meet up with some friends since the stadium was a good walk away so we got to the bus station and somehow hopped on the right bus just in time! We were marveling at how easy it was to get around...until we got to the stadium. Surrounded by screaming and singing Florence fans decked out in all things purple, we wandered around trying to find our gate.

We kept asking people and they would only point in a direction since they couldn't speak English, so we were really confused. We caught site of a guy wearing a Milan jersey and decided to follow him, since he was likely going to the same section. We both had bought Milan jerseys but had been advised not to wear them until we got to our seats because the Florence fans are intense...and sure enough, the Milan jersey wearing guy started getting yelled at and people came up to him and ripped his jersey off, getting in his face and screaming i don't want to know what. We were very thankful we hadn't worn our jerseys but not so thankful that we lost the guy in the crowd of purple. So we kept wandering around and could NOT, for the life of us figure out where we were supposed to go! AND it was raining...not fun. But i was very thankful for my new raincoat ;)

Finally, we asked a man and he said he would take us to our gate, which ended up being in a locked section so the Florence fans couldn't get to us...scary. Anyways, we made it just in time for kick-off and it was awesome! The crowd was chanting and sounded just like that FIFA nintendo game. Our Milan section was completely fenced in with a not so great view of the field but it was still cool! And even though we were fenced in, there were still plenty of screaming matches going on between the Florence and Milan fans. Haha it was crazy.

I got some great shots of David Beckham and it was so weird to actually see him play! It was his last game for AC Milan so when he subbed out at the end of the game, the whole Milan section cheered and clapped for him. I also got a video of the first goal! The game ended 2-0, with Milan winning and when we tried to leave the stadium, we were stopped just inside the gate while the police let the Florence fans leave before us, so no fights would break out...seriously intense. But it was a fun day and i'm SO glad we found out about the game! Enjoy the pics and video!