Italia Round Due

After our brief touch down in Aix, we were back on the road heading even further south. Immediately after my Anthropology exam, the three of us rented a car and drove to Genoa.

The greatest part about driving in Europe is how well everything is marked (I'm actually being serious for once). You can literally just hop on any highway, and of you're at least somewhat familiar with geography, you can follow the signs and wind up exactly where you want to be.

So with no GPS, no Mapquest directions, and no Internet connection, we hopped on the highway in Aix, followed signs for Nice which turned into signs for "Gênes" (Genoa, in French), and then followed signs for the city center. It was really that simple.

When we got into Genoa, I finally learned how much knowing French helps when it comes to understanding other languages. 

For some reason, I was voted information-seeker on our trip to Italy - even though I don't know ANY Italian...

Anyway, I asked these men at a car shop to give us directions to our hotel, and even though every single word was in Italian, I somehow understood him perfectly. It was insane! 

So, flawlessly, we made it to our hotel and went down to the port for dinner. We walked through this narrow hilly street and wound up in a little beachy alcove littered with gelato shops, bars, and restaurants. We decided on this little restaurant right down an alleyway from the beach and took our seats. One thing my mom and grandma noticed was how much Italians care to please you. Our server went through the entire menu and translated it to us - explaining what every dish was. Then she suggested a wine - from the region, of course - and even checked up on us after our food had come out! That's pretty much unheard of in France.

Already, Italy was off to a good start for the two older generations.

Me and Grammy on our way to dinner in Genoa!

The next day, we woke up early and headed to Cinque Terre! 

Cinque Terre translates to mean "Five Earths" which is exactly what it is. It's five little villages tucked up in alcoves in the seaside of the Mediterranean. You can either walk between the five of them, take the train, or you can take the ferry. We decided on the latter, and I'm so glad we did. The view from the water could not have been beat. All of the buildings are various shades of pink, red, orange and yellow. It wouldn't have been the same if we couldn't have seen them from the water. 

On the Ferry to Cinque Terre!

First sightings!

The camera didn't do a very good job of capturing the color, unfortunately

One of the Cinque Terre!

On the last "earth", we hopped off the ferry and grabbed some pizza to bring back with us on our return, and then the ferry brought us back to the port and we headed off to Florence!

À bientôt!

Paris à La Martinson

Early morning, Friday the 4th of June, I landed in Paris-Beauvais airport. After a bus and two metros, I made it to the hotel where me, my mother, and my grandmother would be staying the next two nights.

I walked into the hotel and was directed to our room where I was finally - after 4 months (exactly, as a matter of fact) - reunited with my mom and my grandma :)

We took a quick cat nap and then decided to take advantage of the rest of the daylight and headed off to Montmartre. We climbed up hills to the "but" (with only minimal complaints from Ruth) before getting one of my favorite views of the city. 

We showed my grandma the red-light district of Paris, where I found out that she's been to some pretty "risqué" shows in her day, and ended the tour at an old Brasserie, splitting a cheese and charcuterie plate while sipping on some Carlsberg.

Saturday, we started the day by taking the metro to l'Arc de Triomphe. And then meandered down the Champs Élysées before having lunch in the park and going to the meeting point for our bus tour of the city.

Three Generations in front of the Arc de Triomphe

View of the Eiffel Tower from the bridge

The thing I missed out on when I was in Paris back in February is how absolutely stunning Paris is in the spring. The flowers are all abloom, the fountains are turned on, the sidewalks are shaded by trees trimmed to look like mini Arc de Triomphes, and everybody is outside walking their dog or spending time in the ever-so-rare sunlight. 

We had about 45 minutes to kill in the park (Tuileries gardens, for those who know paris) before meeting up for the tour. And this is when it gets interesting :)

Relaxing in the Tuileries Gardens

So Chris (Ninie's fiancé) and I came up with a grand scheme of surprising both my mom and Ninie by making us all meet up in Paris.

Background: Ninie is a French woman who came and lived with my family when I was in 4th grade. She was a Teacher's Assistant in one of the classes at my elementary school, and during that year, she became a part of my family. My mom and Ninie got SUPER close, but after years, they lost touch and hadn't spoken since probably 2004 or 2005. This fall, in preparation for coming to France, I thought it would be fun to try and find her on Facebook. Long story short, I did, and it was her that i said with when I went to London over winter break.

Ok. Back to the present, so Chris and I planned to surprise them both - he ended up having to tell her because of what their travel arrangements contained, but my mom and my grandma had no idea. So I told Chris to plan on coming on the tour with us, and that way, it would be easy having a planned meeting spot and time. 

Everything worked out perfectly! And my mom and Ninie finally got to see each other again - after 10 years! It was fantastic to see them together again - it was as if no time had passed. 

The tour mainly consisted of everyone catching up and admiring Ninies beautiful almost-one-year-old daughter and everyone laughing at my grandmother because her headphones never seemed to want to work.

After climbing the Eiffel Tower (included in the tour), we made our way to the restaurant where I had sneakily made a reservation for 6 people (thank god my mother doesn't understand French). We had a marvelous dinner and the headed off to bed to prepare for our last day in Paris.

View of Sacré Coeur from the Eiffel Tower

Sunday, we woke up early do we could make it to the Louvre before meeting up with Chris and Ninie for lunch. Showed my grandma the main attractions: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Angel before having some of the best French onion soup ever :)

My mom and I in front of Venus de Milo in the Louvre

Took the TGV back to Aix - where we were very rudely informed that we had misplaced ourselves in first class and we could either pay 30€ per person or sit on the stairs (apparently an entire army troop decided last-minute to get in the train, so we didn't have seats)...I have terrible luck with trains.

Upon our arrival in Aix, I brought the two women to their bed and breakfast and then we went out to a pasta dinner à la Provençale before calling it a night. 

Monday morning, we woke up early to catch our bus to Cassis. I consider Cassis my baby, so I get really excited when I get to bring people there. We spent a little time on the beach, went shopping, and then I finally got to try Moules Frites (Mussels and French Fries)! Then we headed back to Aix so I could spend the rest of my night studying for my final exam the next day.

Me and Mom on the beach in Cassis

Tuesday, I brought my mom and my grandma to the market! Market days are my favorite days in Aix, and after seeing my mother at the market, I know where I got it from. Nancy and Ruth successfully visited every single stand at the market. Admiring jewelry, linens, scarves, and pottery. It's a home-makers dream :) being with my mom allowed me to blow off some steam, and I finally bought a couple things for my room for this next year!

À Bientôt!

Ciao Roma

The best thing about Rome is the fact that no matter where you go, you turn a corner, and there's a historical monument that dates back to before the United States had even been discovered. So the first time seeing the Trevi Fountain was no exception. You walk off a fairly busy road, down a cobble stone street and turn the corner to gaze upon one of the most awe-inspiring fountains in the entire world. And IT'S ENORMOUS!!! We later learned that a very wealthy Roman family hired an artist to build the fountain as a decoration in their back yard - if you can manage to tear your eyes away from the fountain long enough to look up, you can see that it's actually built onto an old palace. The fountain was, in a way, their back-yard decoration. Unbelievable.

Fontana di Trevi

Since we had no agenda, we just took our map and walked to the next closest site: The Pantheon.

Dumb Blond Moment (don't judge me): As I was walking around the inside of this absolutely beautiful structure, I couldn't help but ask Sarah why it was that when I heard "Pantheon," I imagined a dilapidated set of columns that stood far larger than the structure I was staring at…

I was thinking of the Parthenon. In Greece. 

Pan-not-parth-eon-not-enon

And that's why I'm not a History Major.

We decided the best thing to do wast to take out the map away and get lost in the small, winding streets of Roma. We stumbled upon a little bakery that made THE most mouth-watering dark chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. It crumbled it your hands, but when you put it in your mouth, it literally glues your mouth together with chocolate. Amazing. 

Spread at the Bakery where we found that heavenly cookie

Like I mentioned earlier, in Rome, when you turn a corner, you seem to stumble upon another historical artifact...we ended up stumbling onto Piazza Navona, with the fountain that was featured in one of the final scenes of Steve Brown's novels: Angels & Demons, and as we were walking home that night, we literally followed the bend in the street and looked up to see the MONSTROUS Colosseum all lit up at the end of the road. Needless to say, my first day in Rome was filled with as much stimulation as I could've hoped for.

Piazza Navona (Four Rivers Fountain - Bernini)

Picture of the river at Sunset

Tuesday

For a city with so much history as Rome has, we figured that the best way to tackle it would be to follow a guide. So we googled free walking tours, found one, and decided to give it a whirl. 

After waiting for about 20 minutes, the guide never showed…which was weird considering that this tour was supposed to take place every day…but we decided whatever - we'll just find something else to do.

After getting just a glimpse of the Colosseum the night before, we decided to finally go inside. It, too was closed. Feeling slightly disheartened, we headed back to the hostel to learn that it was a European Holiday, so nothing was going to be open...gotta love Europeans and their holidays...

Luckily, the hostel was putting on a night tour of the city, which would include a lot of the bigger sights of Rome. The guide was this Canadian guy - upper twenties, who made history SO much fun. He loved gladiators and ancient Rome, and he described everything as either "badass" or "dope."  he told us the stories behind a lot of the old Italian families and we learned all about the significance of a lot of the major fountains in Rome - Because believe it or not, somebody built them at one point. We learned all about the Orsini family, Bernini, the Barberini family, and the drama that happened between them. After the tour,  I couldn't help but agree with the guide - seeing Rome at night is definitely the way to do it.

Story behind this fountain: One of the members of the Barberini family (very wealthy family back in the day) had a Pope (Urban VIII) who was best friends with this up and coming artist, Bernini. Bernini became a huge success and got kind of a big head and started going around bragging about how popular he was with women, so to humble him, the Pope decided to give him an assignment: design the smallest fountain in Rome. Pissed off and offended (this assignment was clearly beneath him), Bernini decided to get back at the Pope by using the Pope's slutty niece as a model for the fountain...if you look closely, the fountain resembles a woman's spread legs. Although the fountain is technically called the Three Bees Fountain (The Barberini family's symbol was 3 bumblebees), Italians refer to it as "La Fontana de la Puntana" which directly translates to "The Slut Fountain."

In front of the Trevi Fountain at night

Wednesday: 

Took a trip to the Vatican. After making sure that we were dressed appropriately (yes, the pope has a dress code), we headed off to St Peters Basilica. Little did we know that due to the holiday the day before, there were going to be even longer lines than usual. We waited an hour to get into St Peter's Basilica. It brought me right back to waiting in line at Disney World when I was a kid. And it was all worth it.

People had told me that St Peter's was big. I had NO idea. It's HUGE! It never ends! And the entire thing is in either marble or granite and there are statues EVERYWHERE! I swear that the majority of the statues in Rome are IN St. Peter's Basilica. 

Sarah and I took advantage of the hour-long line to see St. Peter's Basilica and got a picture

St. Peter's Basilica

Gettin' artsy fartsy in the Basilica

If I ever get to design my dream house, it will include one of these domed roofs

After saying hi to the pope, we headed back to the Colosseum so we could actually go in. Again, lines were pretty long, but going inside was incredible. Not only was it big, it was insane to imagine what it would've looked like in it's hay-day (spelling????).

Outside of the Colosseum

Me inside the Colosseum!!!

Colosseo

That night, the hostel was putting in a beer party tournament, so naturally Sarah and I - and the other Americans we had met (who coincidentally knew some of the people on my program in France!) were in. We spent the night teaching people from Canada, Australia, Italy, and plenty of other countries how to play beer pong and flip cup. It was a great night.

Dominating at Beer Pong (naturally)

The next day, Sarah had to head back to Marseille, so I was on my own in Rome. I spent most of my time hanging around the hostel, and I finally made it out to treat myself to gelato before preparing for my night sleeping in the airport.

As great as it is to only pay 50-100 bucks for an international flight, it definitely has its downfalls. The airports that the discount airlines fly to are pretty obscure, and are often pretty far out of town. So the airport I had to get to was an hour away, and since my flight left at 6 o'clock in the morning, I figured I might as well: 1. Save some money by not staying another night in a hostel; and 2. Save myself from having a heart attack by just staying in the airport. 

The last bus to the airport left at 11:00, so I grabbed my stuff and prepared for the rough night ahead. Luckily, I was in store for a great surprise - and what would because one of my fondest memories of my time in Europe. 

I ended up being the only passenger on the bus, so my bus driver and I got quite close. However, the bus driver (Fabritsio, as I later found out) did not speak a lick of English. And I only knew as much Italian as the last week and a half had taught me. So trying very hard to communicate provided for a lot of confused looks, a lot of laughs, and a lot of shrugging shoulders. I learned from him that Paris in Italian is "Parigi", an that "domani" means tomorrow. I think Fabritsio liked me because when I told him I was flying to Parigi to meet my "mama domani," he told me "no Parigi." and then told me I needed to bring my mother back to Rome so that he could show the two of us around. I promised him that when I move to Italy and learn to speak Italian, I would come find him so that he and I could finally understand each other.

After saying a tear-filled goodbye to Fabritsio (not actually...), it was time for me to spend the next 5 hours on some very hard concrete. I slept for maybe an hour, and spent the rest of the time playing Solitaire on my iPhone and listening to the best of Simon&Garfunkel.

Finally, it was Friday morning, and I was en route to Paris to see my

Mom and grandma for the first time in 4 months!!!

One thing I noted on my visit to Italy (other than how much I absolutely love it) is how nice everyone is (sometimes too nice, with cat-calling and constant flattery, but hey - who doesn't love a little bit of flattery???). As an American in France, you're a nuisance. You're an annoying tourist who deserves very little respect - even if you speak their language and don't need them to translate for you. In Italy, every single person we asked for directions took the time to make sure we understood what they were saying. Even when we didn't speak their language, they treated us with respect and warmth. Not only were they polite, they even went past that on several occasions and gave us free things. Sarah and I were so shocked that we decided to keep a list of all the stuff we were given while we were in Italy:

- 2 free bottles of water (pizza place in Napoli)

- Free can of Pepsi (pizza place in Napoli)

- Upgraded hotel

- Free tanning chairs (first beach in Capri)

- Free "Easter Cake" (restaurant in Capri)

- Free Bruschetta (restaurant in Sorrento)

- Free Limoncello shots (restaurant in Sorrento)

Needless to say, I'm really excited to go back!

À Bientôt!

Sor-roll-the-R-ento

Getting off the ferry in Sorrento, me and Sarah's French, laid-back, everything-will-work-itself-out attitude got the best of us. We didn't do much research in how to get from the port to the hostel, so we were forced to make a couple stops into hotels and restaurants to find out where we were supposed to be going. Because Sorrento is another city right off the coast, the walk from the water to the center of town is either steep and winding or consisting of what seems like hundreds of stairs. With a suitcase weighing 13 kgs (roughly 26 pounds), those stairs seemed to last forever. But as soon as we reached the Piazza, we were surprised by what seemed to be a public Catholic mass - complete with a 6-part choir right in the middle of what is normally one of the busiest squares in the city. 

Part of the stairs we had to climb in order to get to Piazza Tasso (the main square in Sorrento)

We got directions to our hostel (which just so happened to be a whole 30 minute walk from the Piazza...brutal, but I'll spare you the details), and collapsed upon arrival. 

After regaining some strength, we realized we hadn't eaten in 9 hours, so we meandered around the corner to the most typical Italian restaurant I could have ever imagined - huge, loud families - kids running around screaming - and the entire restaurant's eyes are glued to the projected "football" game between Napoli and Roma. Sarah and I just sat in the corner (literally) and enjoyed the show. 

The next day was filled with quite a bit of meandering...saw Marina Grande (what used to be an old fisherman's village but has been turned into another beach-boardwalk-esque part of Sorrento), Piazza Tasso (without the outdoor mass this time), Villa Communale (translates to Public Park - gives a beautiful view of the Bay of Naples and up the Sorrento Coast), the 15th century town (right in the middle of town, as you walk over a bridge, if you look down, about 20 stories below you are the remains of a 15th-century Sorrento building and the old wall surrounding the city), and we even got to go to a gelato shop where you can get 5 different flavors of gelato for 5 euros!

My five flavors of gelato - Strawberry, Berries and Cream, Lemon, Triple Chocolate, and Coffee

The view of the Bay of Naples from Villa Communale

15th Century Sorrento - Right below one of the main streets in Sorrento.

Late that night, we went out to dinner, and I FINALLY got my first plate of Italian Spaghetti! Then we hit the sack in preparation for our final spring break destination: Romaaaa!

Spaghetti!!!

The next day, we hit the road and caught our train to Naples. Then from Naples, we caught our train to Rome. And in classic European fashion, something went wrong with the train, so we ended up having to go to a different station (fun fact: when they were announcing that there would be food trolleys coming through the train, they said it in both Italian and English, but when they explained that the train would be stopping at a different location, they didn't bother to translate). Luckily, we made friends with a French couple (who happened to know Italian AND English) and took the metro to the right station. We took a little time to unwind and get acclimated to our 5th hostel of the trip before heading out to see the sights.

First stop: Trevi Fountain :)

À Bientôt!

Teal Water, Gorgeous Men, and Limoncello. What More Could I Have Asked For?

The next day (Friday, the 27th of April, if any of you are actually keeping track), Sarah and I took the ferry across from Naples to Capri. The boat ride in was absolutely beautiful. Capri, being an island, juts out from the Sea, and the entire surface is covered in the greenest of green trees and thousand upon thousand of houses and buildings. The don't waste any space. 

Picture of me upon our arrival to the Marina Grande

After carrying our luggage up very narrow and windy streets (stopping several times to ask people for directions along the way), we finally got to our hotel. There are no hostels in Capri, so we were FORCED to book a hotel. Upon our arrival, were informed that Hostelworld (the website through which we booked the hotel) never actually informed our hotel of our reservation, and the hotel we were supposed to stay at was full. So we were homeless. However, the woman was so so so kind as to call Hostelworld and see if they would find us another hotel available. And while she was on the phone with them, she sat us on the balcony of the hotel, served us a bottle of water, mango juice and cookies. Eventually she came out and informed us that she had found another hotel for us to stay in. Perk: because of the inconvenience, we would be paying the same amount for the second hotel. So...we got a reservation for a 4-star hotel for the same price as we were going to pay for the other hotel (around 40€ a night). Not. Bad :)

The lobby in our 4-star hotel!!!

For those of you who have seen the movie The Holiday, try to remember how Kate Winslet's character acted when she was running around Cameron Diaz's house. That was me and Sarah. Mouths wide open, gasping at how beautiful everything was, and how we were actually going to be staying there. For two girls who had been sleeping in 6 to 16-person dorm rooms every time we travelled, this was absolute paradise. So after our kids-first-trip-to-DisneyWorld happy dances, the woman at the new hotel told us where to find a beach.

And we were off.

Finally, after days of traveling and crappy weather, all we wanted to do was pass out in the sun. So that's what we did :) on a beach, in a little alcove on the South side of the island - rocks jutting up from the surrounding 270 degrees, and clear blue water endlessly expanded in front of us. Several times during the day, I had to remind myself where I was.

The windy pathway down to the beach - with the most breathtaking view

Faraglioni (the three rock formations off the coast of Capri)

Another beautiful view from our hike down to the beach

Picture of my friend and travel partner, Sarah on her little island in the sun :)

That night, we asked the people at the hotel where to go to dinner, and they recommended this great place for pasta. It took us forever to find it, because it was down this little alley way, and the door wasn't well marked. However, when you walked in, it was clear that the restaurant had once been an old house. The inside was warm and cozy, and then you walked through a door into a stone-walled courtyard filled with candle-lit tables. There were trees in the corners, and because it was open, you could look up and see the stars. Sarah and I ordered pasta and split a bottle of red wine before going back to the hotel so we could wake up early the next morning and make the most of our day.

On our last day in Capri, we did what any good tourist would - we tried the local delicacy: Limoncello. I had heard of Limoncello before, and I had been told that I needed to try it if I went to Capri, but for some reason I didn't fully understand what it was...which provided for an interesting experience...Sarah and I figured that as we were meandering around Marina Grande, we might as well sip on - what we thought would be - some refreshing lemonade-type drink. So at 11:30am, we went into a restaurant and asked for 2 Limoncello's to go. We were not-so-pleasantly surprised to find out that each one cost 4€...we were even less pleasantly surprised when the waitress brought out little Dixie cups with the yellow drink. I couldn't believe I had paid 4€ (almost 6 American dollars) for this little shit of a drink. But as soon as I tasted it, I understood. Limoncello is a lemon liqueur. So I wasn't drinking 4€ lemonade. I was drinking 4€ lemon-flavored alcohol. Straight. At 11:30 in the morning. Talk about feeling like a total tourist, walking around with my Limoncello when it's not even noon.

Picture from Marina Grande

After finishing our lemon alcohol, we headed to a different beach (the first one was better) for a couple hours. 

Second Beach (where I actually swam with about 5 jellyfish floating around me)

One thing you won't be able to ignore if you ever get a chance to go to Capri is the streets. Scroll up to the picture of the winding pathway that I took down to the beach on the first day - now imagine cars trying to wind up the side of the mountain on streets like that. It happens. And at some points, the street becomes so narrow that one car has to stop and back up in order to let the other car through. Luckily, I captured a picture of this when I was on the bus up from the beach. The bus driver actually noticed what I was trying to capture, so he made me come and sit up on the center console of the bus - hence why my picture is so spectacular :)

This bus had to back up in order to let our through

After almost having a heart attack on the bus ride up the mountain, Sarah and I packed our bags and said goodbye to our beloved Capri as we boarded the ferry to Sorrento.

Sun setting over behind the cliff

À Bientôt!

"I Have A Thing For Ferries"

Wednesday night, at 10pm, we were on the Adriatic Sea en route to Ancona, Italy.

Whereas I was expecting our ferry to look somewhat similar to the ferries that go between New York City and Staten Island, it looked more similar to the Titanic. Ok maybe that was an exaggeration, but still. There was a restaurant, several cafe-bars and lots of couches. After snooping through the majority of the ship, Sarah and I laid down in our unbelievably uncomfortable "aircraft style seats" for one of the most terrible nights sleep I've ever had. However, waking up at 6am and seeing the sun rising behind us as we arrived into Ancona made it all worth it.

Don't even know how to pronounce this, but it brought me from Croatia to Italy in one piece, so it must mean something impressive!

Sunrise Over the Adriatic Sea

Sunrise into Ancona, Italy

First View of Ancona!

Ancona (or at least Ancona's train station)

There are two buses every day that go straight from Ancona to Naples. One at 7:30 am, one at 2:30 pm. Since we didn't get off the boat until after 8 o'clock, we had to stay at the Ancona train station for six hours. Hold on. I don't think you heard me. Six. Hours. 

Somehow we made it through the brutal six hours and caught our bus to Naples. This is going to be another one of those experiences better described using picture rather than words, but I'll just say briefly: it was breathtaking. Rolling hills of all different shades of green leading the way to steep, rocky and snow-covered mountains. I wanted so badly to nap and make up for my terrible night's sleep the night before, but I couldn't tear my face away from the window.

If you look closely, you can see the little hole through which we came (right through the middle of a mountain)

At a little after 9 pm, we made it into Naples and somehow found our way to the hostel - whose front desk woman directed us to the best pizza in Napoli; and therefore the world: Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo. We spent our last waking hour of the day consuming some the of the best pizza I've ever had. And the entire pizza was only 3€!!!

Allllllll gone :)

After devouring the pizza, we crawled into bed and prepared for our next destination - Capri :)

À Bientôt!

Hvala

Good Morning!

At 5:20am on Friday, April 20th, I awoke with a start as Kate, my roommate, yelled my name. She told me that Sarah was on the phone wondering where I was...I was supposed to be at the bus station catching the bus to the airport. I leapt out of bed and threw on the clothes that I had luckily laid out for myself the night before. Also very fortunately, I had already packed my suitcase so all I had to do was zip it up and run out the door thanking my roommate a hundred times for waking me up. I was out of bed at 5:20, left my apartment at 5:30, and was at the bus station at 5:37; now keep in mind the walk from my front door to the bus station typically takes 15 minutes...I have NO idea how I made it there that quickly. 

I got on the bus to the airport and met up with my friends saying "I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry! I have no idea what happened - I set THREE alarms!!!"

Either way, I was at the airport - on my long-awaited way to Zadar, Croatia.

Our landing in Croatia was a little iffy - we landed in what seemed like the middle of a field (pretty sure I could see cows from the runway), and in our loopy sleep-deprived state, the 7 of us could not stop laughing. 

The 3 who were staying in the same hostel hailed a cab and made it into the beautiful city of Zadar (emphasis on the first syllable, if you want to pronounce it correctly). While on the way in, we made sure to get the low-down on some terminology:

- hi: Bok

- thank you: Hvala (the cab driver said it so fast the first time we asked  that we were pronouncing it "koala" the first day)

Luckily, almost everyone in Croatia speaks at least some English, so we didn't have too much to worry about.

After bumming around the city, taking a nap, and bumming around the city some more, all 7 of us sat down at the well-recommended restaurant Bruschetta and I enjoyed one of the best plates of pasta Ive ever had while watching the sun set over the Adriatic Sea.

Plitvice National Park

If you ever Google "Croatia," you're bound to stumble upon at least a dozen pictures of the legendary Plitvice National Park - known for it's hundreds of waterfalls cascading over trees and rocks an forming little pools that are so clear, you can actually see all the way to the bottom.

Not even my "poetic" description can suffice to describe how breathtaking this park is. 

After taking an electric ferry across one of the lakes, you get your very first taste of the waterfalls - little streams of water spilling over the rocks and shrubs that line the lake. After dismounting the boat, we were led up an old wooden staircase that stood about two inches above the water. Amazed at the fact that we were within reaching distance of some of the most beautiful cascades of water imaginable, it took me a second to actually look up and see what was in front of me.

The wooden staircase became a path that almost gave us the illusion that we were walking on top of a pool of crystal blue water. Alright, enough writing - I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

Because it's a National Park, humans aren't allowed to tweak it or do anything to it...meaning that when a tree falls, they have to leave it where it is. Cool thing about the water being so clear was that we were able to see a lot of the fallen and moss-covered trees!

I wondered what happened when they got big rain storms...our tour guide said - very simply - they shut down parts of the trails because they get submerged in water

Water bubbling up through the cracks in the pathway

After a brief rainstorm (blue ponchos provided by the tour guide), the sky finally cleared up. If I hadn't already thought the park was beautiful when it was overcast, the sun added this indescribable magical element as the rays of sunlight bounced off the beads of water. 

At every turn, I found myself using the words "unbelievable," "incredible," "unreal," and "amazing." To think that this entire park was completely natural proves that there is no way man could ever compete with nature.

Cheesin' in the Park

Can you believe I walked on that?

Tallest waterfall in the park - 78 meters tall (256 feet)

A more aerial view of "Veliki Slap" ("Big Waterfall")

For those of you interested in the more science-y facts about the park (cough you know who I'm talking to cough), you can read a little bit about it here. 

The next days

Due to the uncooperative weather, we weren't able to spend as much time outside. However, we did our best; we saw the Sea Organs (the waves provide so much pressure that air is forced through these holes in the sides of the wall surrounding the city and it creates a melody of sorts. Frankly, I thought it sounded similar to Dori speaking whale, but to each his own...), and the Salutation to the Sun (during the day, panels on the path alongside the sea absorb the Sun's energy, and at night there's a light show after sunset).

Sea Organ (the holes that the sound comes out of)

Because it was so cloudy, the light show wasn't as bright as it normally is. But it was still super sweet!!! Reminded me a little bit of Michael Jackson's Beat It video...

Took a trip to the top of the bell tower

Tuesday


Sarah and I (the only two left in Zadar) decided to attempt to make the most of our stay in Croatia and see as much of the Adriatic Sea as we could - meaning we took a boat tour. Apparently there are 365 small (mostly uninhabited) islands in the surrounding area, and in 6 hours, we were going to see the majority of them. Little did we know, the tour was going to be in German (considering the woman guiding the tour didn't know much English, and German was her next-well-known-language to Croatian). Also, the tour was primarily inhabited by middle-agers, so S and I were more or less the youngest kids aboard. So after taking our mandatory shot of Schnapps (at 9 o'clock in the morning, mind you), we listened to more German than I had ever heard while checking out the beautiful Adriatic scenery.

We took a brief pitstop at one of the islands - where we had the Croatian delicacy of fish, potatoes and steak (I'm being facetious about the delicacy part) and got in some rays of sun before the all-too-predictable Croatian rain storm.

I wanted to take it with me

View from the top of the hill of one of the islands

Fish, Steak, Potatoes, and Coleslaw (we're just gonna call it coleslaw...)

Overall, a hilarious and incredibly memorable way to spend the day.

Wednesday

Finally on our last day in Zadar, the sun decided to finally show itself. So Sarah and I searched out a beach and got a little too much sun as we had our own salute to the beautiful hidden-gem of a city. 

Our little spot at the beach :)

The sunset over Zadar

À Bientôt!