Trip To Europe Journal:
Our flight left Toronto at around 9 PM and it was 8 hours long. When we arrived in Barcelona, Spain, it was around 11 AM (their time). Our first order of the day was to pick up our luggage, after that, we got a quick tour of the city. Our tour guide was this young Russian guy named Constantine. Personally, he was not my cup of tea. He spoke way too fast and kept referring to Julia and I as dames. Anyways, the city itself is absolutely gorgeous. A feast for the eyes if you are an architecture and art lover. The city is adorned with architectural gems which each hold their own unique tale of nativity. Our first sightseeing opportunity happened when we went up a hill called Montjuïc where we could view all of Barcelona. Barcelona is absolutely beautiful. Seeing as it was my first sense of Europe, I was instantly impressed. When we were driving there, we passed by the Olympic stadium where Freddie Mercury had once performed with Montserrat Caballe. He actually has a song called ‘’Barcelona’’. To see that place, and to see where Freddie Mercury once stood and belted out notes with his beautiful voice, it hit me on such a deep level. I was in awe. I could not believe that I could see the same things that his eyes saw. I felt such a connection with him. It’s a strange thing to say because many people see these buildings but none of those people have affected me like Freddie has. I was so appreciative and thankful to be able to be there just like he had been before me. After that, we drove on down to Sagrada Familia which, before the rest of this trip, was the most beautiful building I had ever seen. As our tour guide droned on about the religious story behind the future church, I tuned him out and just stared, completely astonished, at this building. Antonio Gaudi, its architect, is a genius. His work, scattered around Barcelona, is truly what makes this city so beautiful and special. We took a small break at a cafe, situated directly across from Sagrada Familia where we all had some coffee and sandwiches. Food in Europe is delicious! Everything tastes so much richer and more filling. After our breather, we headed to Park Guell, another one of Gaudi’s beautiful creations. As we walked through the park, more and more did I realize that I was finally in Europe. I’ve always dreamed of going to Europe and it was an amazing feeling to know I was finally there, seeing the sights that millions have seen before me; the sights that have taken away a million breaths. Then, we drove down the street called La Rambla where we saw beautiful houses made by famous architects. It was truly breath taking. All too soon, we had to leave to board our cruise ship, the Norwegian Jade. We were almost the last ones to board but soon we got on and the ship sailed. Now we were on our way to the south of France and the very little country of Monaco!
I was extremely excited to go to France because I am learning how to speak the language (which I think is the most beautiful language in the world!) and because I love the culture and their traditions. Originally, I was suppose to spend this summer in France, learning the language and immersing myself in their culture but...we all know how that turned out! That morning, I was in a foul mood because of a silly argument with my mother but as soon as we stepped onto French soil, I was euphoric! I could not believe I was finally there after dreaming about it for years! Our tour guide was this petite French woman and our tour was in English (the only English tour of the trip). We got onto the tour bus with another 70 or so eager tourists and we started heading to our first destination, the village of Eze. Abundant with tiny cobblestone streets and many (MANY MANY MANY) steps to the top, Eze is absolutely gorgeous. Situated at the top of a mountain, overlooking the French Riviera and a view of the Mediterranean coast, it is breathtaking. Even though walking up those stairs was tiring, I got a second wind from hearing French being spoken by the locales. It was so gratifying to finally understand it after studying it for so long. After Eze, we drove to Nice. Nice is also extremely beautiful but less in its actual buildings and architecture, more in the sense of its people and atmosphere. I was again in a bad mood (how ironic that in my favourite place from the trip, I was in the worst moods!) but this time, I think I was just cranky because I was super hungry! Anyways, we finally ate at this adorable outdoor cafe located across from the police station. That’s where I had my first taste of Crème Brulée and all I have to say is YUM! Then, we drove to Monaco, the second smallest country in the world! Back in school, I had done a project on Monaco so I knew quite a bit of its history and it was great to finally see it in real life after researching it. The city itself is gorgeous but since it IS extremely expensive, the whole place is full of absurdly rich people. Being surrounded by these outrageously rich, spoiled people made me feel so out of place!! The whole atmosphere was ``I`m better than you, look at my fancy clothes and my nice car`` as though everyone was competing with each other. Although as a tourist it was nice to look at, I feel that there are more important things in life than brand name clothes and cars and that I would not be able to stay in that hostile environment for longer than the 2 hours or so that we were there! I don`t think I`ll be coming back there or than for a short visit. Particularly for that reason, I liked Barcelona and Nice the most. Their morals and way of life was the closest to mine and my ideals. For example, the fact that they don`t drive the nicest cars and rather close their shops on Sundays and take long lunches and actually appreciate the beauty of life instead of working themselves into the ground and never enjoying life or spending time with the most important people in life, their friends and family. Anyways, that`s another story. By this time, my stomach was in absolute pains! It was not used to their food and decided to make that known in the most horrible ways! Without getting too graphic, let me tell you, that the bathrooms in EU are absolutely disgusting and you are actually charged for using them in most places! I don`t mind being charged to use it, but it was just disgusting how unclean and unsanitary they were! It`s kind of hilarious actually, how you can go into the most expensive hotel or even at the Vatican City, and you see how beautiful and rich it all is, and then you go to the bathroom and it`s 1 step above a dirt hole in the ground. Anyways, after my escapades with my stomach, we finally headed back to our ship and our day in France and Monaco was over. I will definitely be revisiting the south of France!
The next day we arrived in Florence, Italy. I had no expectations for Florence because I hadn’t read much about it. Actually, I had no expectations for this entire trip and i think that is why it left such good memories in me. Usually I over think things and have quite high expectations which ruin all of my endeavours and leave me disappointed. After finally realizing this (right before this trip), I consciously made an effort to not have any expectations and I was right all along. I finally realized that expectations are inversely proportional to happiness and hopefully from now on, I will become a happier person! Anyways, back to the story! We arrived in a port town called Livorno and then we drove about an hour or so to Pisa. We had a private tour with a Russian guide. She was a really nice lady who had a faint Italian accent in Russian which made her really pleasant to listen to. Also, before I forget, I just wanted to say OH MY LORD! When I was in the main cities of Italy and Spain, I honestly felt like I was suffocating! The pollution is extremely prevalent and my lungs, which are used to the beautiful fresh air, were not getting the right amount of oxygen! I had so much trouble getting a full breath; I almost wanted to give up on the tours and just go home! Also, there are a LOT of smokers in Europe and I got a LOT of disgusting second hand smoke. It’s so common there that people don’t even have the courtesy to not blow it right in your face. There were times when someone walking across from me on the street would blow their smoke literally RIGHT AT ME! How rude! Maybe I am just being a little simpleton girl here but come on, have some courtesy! All right, now that this rant is out of my system, I shall continue on with the story. Pisa is spectacular! The Piazza del Duomo, the Cathedral Square, is beautiful and when I saw the leaning tower of Pisa, I was stunned. Of course we took many pictures there. Also at the Cathedral Square was a Baptistery. Our tour guide told us about the amazing acoustics inside and so we went in for ourselves to see. A worker there would sing a few notes every half an hour to show the tourist how powerful the acoustics really are. As a singer, I was extremely excited for this, more so than most of the tourists in there! When the worker finally emerged and sang a few notes, it was absolutely beautiful. Julia and I had trekked up onto the second floor (on this tiny stone curved staircase that felt never ending and made me claustrophobic and panic a little) to hear the beautiful sound as it resonated through the higher level of the baptistery. I wish I could have captured the sounds I heard. They were beautiful. The worker sang one note and then would sing another note and by herself, using nature’s own echo, created harmonies. It was hauntingly beautiful. After our trip to Pisa, we drove to Florence. Florence has got to be the most beautiful city in the world! We walked a whole lot through Florence and got to see every nook and cranny of the city and it is truly gorgeous. We had a lovely lunch at a cafe near the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella where we had the best sweet tea ever! (Who knew Florence had such good sweet tea?) I don’t have much to say about the city (my memories right now are a bit murky seeing as I’m still jet lagged but wow, what an impression this city left on me). I can’t wait to go back. Also, Florence had the MOST DELICIOUS ICE CREAM!!!! AAAH. I had some apple and fruit salad flavour and yum yum yum. So good!
The next day, we headed to Rome. Rome is so outrageously grand. All the grand palaces and statues and fountains et al. are just so amazingly beautiful and luxurious that it takes your breath away. We first saw the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the old walls to the city of Rome. Then, we went to a Roman arena (which I forgot the name of and now it’s driving me nuts trying to remember it!!). It was all just an empty field but the fact that the Romans decided to preserve it and not build anything on it made me respect them so much. Their city is filled with so much history and I commend them for keeping their roots and history alive by preserving all their ruins. I come from a place where if something is old and ruined, you tear it down and build something new. That’s what aggravates me about North America. We will never have the rich history that Europe does (even if chronologically we were on equal ground) because we never preserve anything. Our motto is ‘’ Out with the old, in with the new’’ and this saddens me. Anyways, after that, we went to the Roman Forum which is so beautiful and breathtaking. This trip to Rome really makes your imagination work. I kept trying to imagine what life must have been like in Ancient Rome and it’s truly fascinating to think about this way of life hundreds of years ago. Then we headed up to Piazza del Campidoglio which is also stunning and grand. We heard the mythological tale of the foundation of Rome; the story of Romolus and Remus, which is enthralling. I love mythology. Then we drove around Piazza Venezia where we saw the gigantic monument Il Vittoriano which is also beautiful. I feel like I’m running out of positive adjectives to describe the beauty that is Europe! Then we went off to the Trevi Fountain where I dropped two coins into the fountain (I originally only had one but my mom gave me another because if you have 2, it means you will be happy in love) and stupidly, I forgot to make a wish!!! Oh well, next time I go there, I better make a good wish! I had some yummy pizza outside of the Trevi fountain as well. Then we were driving to the Vatican and dropped my parents off at a shopping centre. On the way there, the rest of us, Julia, me, Rimma and Lesha all stopped by the Spanish Steps which are also beautiful and monumental. Then we continued our drive to the Vatican. In one trip, I managed to go to the two smallest countries in the world (Monaco and Vatican City)! The Vatican was,obviously, absolutely beautiful. As our tour guide told us, all the beautiful statues and monuments from Rome were taken to the Vatican. The most breathtaking of it all was the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. To see the masterpieces of Michelangelo in real life has got to be one of the best moments in my life. We weren’t allowed to take videos/pictures but of course I had to rebel and I took some videos ;). Then we saw St. Peter’s basilica which has to be the grandest, most luxurious, extravagant place I’ve ever been to! It was, but of course, stunning! We finished off our day in Rome by going to Piazza Navona (also beautiful, especially the Brazilian embassy) where we met up with my parents and headed back to the ship.
The next day, we went to Naples. My first impression of Naples was that the people were rude, but this was mostly from our tour guide’s description of them. I hadn’t actually met any rude Neapolitans! Our first stop was Pompeii which was TRULY AMAZING!!! Probably the best part of the whole trip because of the rich history and it was just brilliant. I loved it a lot. It’s a once-in-a-million opportunity that modern people get to see how we lived hundreds of years ago before the progression of time had made things evolve. Pompeii is forever frozen in time and I’m so happy I got a chance to finally see it with my own eyes after reading about it and watching so many documentaries on it. It’s amazing to think that I got to stand in Pompeii’s grand theatre and say a few words and hear the very same echo that a citizen of Pompeii would have heard hundreds of years ago. Naples does not have as rich a history as Rome and Florence so we spent most of our time in the car and got out to take pictures of the beautiful landscape and scenery of the neighbouring islands. We also got a bit of shopping time in Naples which was great. As much as I love learning the history of these places and sightseeing, it was nice to relax a bit with some retail therapy. We then had some amazing pizza at a place that I think is called Il Pomodoro or something like that. It was the best pizza I ever had. I had the flavour of cheese with prosciutto. So yummy! As our ship was leaving Naples, we got to see the most beautiful sunset right beside Mount Vesuvius. It was gorgeous. The next day was spent as sea where we leisurely did absolutely nothing at all. It was nice but quite boring since we were used to the hustle and bustle of the cities and the action packed tours.
The next day was spent at Palma De Mallorca, Spain. Oh, what a day! We got off the ship and my dad decided it would be a great idea to walk for 1.5 hours to the city centre (where this beautiful cathedral was located + a ton of shops). It was an extremely humid day with no wind at all. On top of that, I was having a lot of difficulty breathing and my chest hurt because of the lack of fresh air and because of all the pollutants in the air. After walking about a quarter of the way, we decided it would be smarter to take a bus so we got on the public transport bus and it took us about 5 minutes to get to the city centre. That was a smart idea. Once we got there, it was quite beautiful. The only bad thing was that it smelled like urine and there were homeless people everywhere. If you can overlook that, then Palma is just gorgeous! After sightseeing a little, we started shopping and that took up most of our day. I got some great stuff at H&M and Zara. I’m not one for high end shopping, especially since things go out of style everyday! I’d rather buy something trendy in a high street store and buy something classic from an expensive store. I’ll always splurge on skin care and perfume but everything else is bought for less. Anyways, after the shopping, we headed back on board to start packing since that was our last day. We packed all our stuff away and I threw out my favourite pair of Chuck Taylors because they had ripped way too much to be worn. I had those shoes since Grade 8. They’ve gone through a lot of good and bad times with me! It was so hard to separate from them! By accident, I had left my shaving razor and favourite Guerlain cleanser in the cabin, which I regret so much! AAAH. Oh well, everything happens for a reason. Anyways, the next morning we woke up at 8 AM and got off the ship, went to the airport and flew home. The flight back was 9 hours long (longer due to wind resistance) and passed by very slowly. Although I had an amazing trip, I am glad to be home. This trip really made me appreciate my family and my life. I love where I live and I don’t want to move anywhere! I truly realized that family is there for you for all the good and bad times and that friends come and go. I will look back on this trip very fondly because it taught me a lot about the world and about how big it really is. I think I will remember this trip on those times where I feel like I am facing the world’s biggest problems and I will realize that the world is a big place and that although at that moment, I may feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, the world will get better and life goes on. As my favourite person in the whole wide world sang, Freddie (if you had any doubts),the show must go on.
