Winter Break

^ Cathy, Ali, and I in front of Notre Dame. Paris, France.
^ The Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Paris, France.
^ Ali, me, and Cathy on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, France.
^ Ali and I eating French Onion soup. YUM!  Paris, France.
^Cathy, Ali, and I all liked different wine. Mine of course is the Red. Ali is the white, and Cathy is the rose. Paris, France.
^ New Year's Eve in Nice, France. Cathy, Ali, me.
^ Cathy, Ali, and I being silly in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, France.

So my old roomie from Sonoma, Ali, is here visiting me! She got here on December 27th. We saw Michelangelo's David for free which was great!! The David was absolutely amazing! He is 13ft tall, and flawless. He was definitely a sight to see. On the 29th we went to Rome and stayed there till the 31st. Rome was great. I showed Ali all around since I have already been there. We saw the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica. I love how it is so easy to get around Rome on the Metro that only costs 1euro to ride. We had a blast there. Then on Dec 31st we flew off to Nice, France. There we met up with Cathy (my friend since childhood) and her boyfriend. Nice was pretty, but it was not a youthful place for New Years. It was all decorated and everything, but everything cost way too much. Good thing we were only there till the next morning. On Jan 1st, we took a 6hr train to Paris, France. We stayed at a Best Western hotel, which is definitely an upgrade for me, since I've gotten used to always staying in hostels. In Paris, we saw the Eiffel tower and climbed 669 steps to the second floor! It was an amazing view! We also went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa! Ali and I pushed our way to the front and got some pretty good pictures. We also saw DaVinci's Madonna of the Rocks, which is one of my favorite paintings. We saw the Arc de Triomphe. We got to climb all the way to the top for free and got an awesome view of the Eiffel tower. It was nighttime, so we got to see it all lit up, and then for about 10mins the whole tower sparkled with a million twinkling lights. We also saw Notre Dame, and it was so cool to see all the gargoyles on it. I loved the food in France. I had onion soup as my first meal. Absolutely delicious! I have been craving it ever since. We stayed in Paris till the 5th and then Ali and I flew off to Bristol, England. Our hostel there was sooo nice! The rooms were big, the was a restaurant and cafe inside, and even a games room! We didn't see much of Bristol, because the two days we were there, we took a coach bus to London! The coach bus took 2hrs 40mins, but definitely worth it to see London! I loved it there. But I have got to say, it was definitely a different experience being in a country where they speak English again. I kept getting confused on whether to say "Grazie" or "Merci" or "Thank you". London was awesome and I even liked the food there. A lot of people have told me that the food in England is very bland and not good. But I definitely have to disagree. I had Sheperd's pie and loved it! It was meat with mashed potatoes on top and gravey all over, and a side of carrots and green beans. It was such a hearty meal. The second night we were in London, we saw the play, Dirty Dancing!!!!! It was soooo close to the movie, it was amazing. And they even sang most of the songs, and as we all know that soundtrack is great! As all you know, I am a die hard Harry Potter fan, so we went to Kings Cross station and got to see platform 9 3/4!!!! It was soooo cool. The only thing that sucked was that the train station is under construction, so the Harry Potter platform was really on platform 8, not between 9 and 10 like it is supposed to be. And the "brick wall" was not even brick, it was a poster of bricks. But we looked past that fact, and I thought it was so cool to actually be there where they filmed it in all the Harry Potter films. We also saw Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Everything we saw was so awesome. I really hope I get to go back to London soon. On the 8th, we flew back to Rome, and took a train back up to Florence. Tomorrow (Jan 10th) is Ali's 21st birthday!!! I am so glad I get to have one of my friend's from home here with me :) 

Ciao!!!

xoxoxoxo

P.s. I added a few more pictures to the post before this one in Brugge. Check them out!