Florence, Venice, Athens and Corfu... Oh My!!!

Well, today is Tuesday, April 21st, which marks the official death of spring break. I haven't prepared a eulogy for the occasion, but I'm definitely in mourning. It's so cruel of NYU London to give us a 17 day break during which we can see some of the most amazing cities in the world, then thrust us back into the classrooms for the last 2 and a half weeks of school and bombard us with finals and papers up the wazoo. All I want to do is keep traveling, but now I have to exhibit serious bookworm tendencies or risk falling dreadfully behind. However, I DO get to go to Paris this weekend, which will be fabulous. But it's hard to think that spring break flew by so quickly! I'm going to try and recount for all the amazing happenings on my trips to Italy and Greece, as well as provide some visual aids - though the pictures obviously don't do any of it justice! (I must have taken a solid 600 pictures on my trips, so I'm only going to post the elite - but feel free to request more and I can email you some more international eye candy!)

Before I delve into the nitty gritty of my travels, I wanted to highlight some observations I made through traveling in general - people's attitudes towards Americans, what it's like being a tourist, and things of that nature. Here's a very concise list of some things that jumped out at me:
1) Americans, and the English speaking population in general, are SO spoiled! We have it made extremely easy when it comes to language. In both Italy and Greece, I would say a solid 80% of the natives could speak at least rudimentary English, and almost everyone who worked in a shop or store or restauarant was fluent. Every street sign, billboard, museum display, etc, would be written in Italian or Greek, and immediately underneath would be an English translation. English is the only language that people went to such lengths for, as well. In the Uffizi gallery in Florence, I must have heard over a dozen different languages - there were so many different ethnic groups there, I never felt so many diverse groups of people in one place! However, under each painting in the gallery was the Italian description, and next to it a perfect English translation. No other language was immediately offered, and those not speaking Italian or English had to purchase expensive audio-guides that would translate each display for them and give them an audio tour of the museum. I felt fortunate, but at the same time, quite sad that no other nationality had the priveleges of the English-speaking population.

2) Somehow, some way, people will know you're a tourist. Even if you're just walking around with a purse and don't have any dead giveaways of tourism, like a map, a Rick Steve's travel book, a camera, etc, they know. Don't ask me how! Being half Italian and, in my opinion, looking predominantly Italian myself, I was ready to implement some of the little Italian I retained in high school and approach people in their native language out of courtesy, and a desire to want to assimilate to their culture while I was in their country. However, as soon as I stepped into a store or a restuarant, the people who worked there would immediately say "hello, miss!" instead of "ciao, senora." I was quite miffed!! Do I just scream "tourist"?? Or am I that outwardly American that people automatically pin me for someone from the states? Either way, I had NO idea how they knew, but I'm telling you, it happened without fail. I guess my Italian roots are inconcievable to a real native, or maybe they just have American radar. But I didn't have to speak a single word of Italian during my entire trip, although I was certainly ready for the challenge. It's a little sad, but at the same time, it shows what a presence America has as a world power, and how people go to such lengths to cater to us.

3) Flying alone is not as daunting as it originally seems. I was a little anxious about my flights out of Venice to Budapest, and then Budapest to Athens for my second leg of spring break. I was worried I'd have to brush up on some Hungarian to help me out in the Budapest airport, since I would be alone and should I need help, I'd have no choice but to ask someone. But as I said before, EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. The venice flight attendants had no trouble directing me to the check in area in flawless English, and the people in Budapest helped me to my terminal with ease. I had it made in the shade, and flying is really a very easy (if not boring) task once you get the hang of it.

4) Don't write off airplane food!! On every flight I encountered on spring break, I got some really yummy snacks - a few cinnamon rolls, animal crackers, a fruit plate, etc. On the flight home to London from Athens, they even gave us a full dinner - salad with tzaziki sauce, pasta with red sauce and olives, 2 rolls, and a slice of pound cake with a chocolate bar for dessert. I'm not a normally picky eater to begin with, but these meals would have been great if I had ordered them in a real restaurant. So for airplane food, I felt like I was getting the star treatment!

5) Fellow travelers are so quick to help each other out. Whenever I wanted a picture with my friends and I asked a fellow tourist to take it for me, they were enthuisiastic and happy to do it. Several of them even went to such lengths to say "let me take another one, one of you blinked!" or "I'll take a second one closer up for you, then I'll zoom out to get the background!" Often, they'd take a picture for us, then we'd swap cameras and I'd take one for them and their whole crew. It was a very common and easy transaction, and a nice way to chat with some fellow travelers. They're also quick to help you get somewhere if they've been there before, and are happy to give free travel advice about a place they might have visited. We got lots of great suggestions of things to do from people who took our photos.

Well, those are just a few observations I made as a new world traveler, but there are certainly many more. However, I'm itching to talk about the first part of my trip, which was the beautiful city of FLORENCE!! So here's how it all started:

April 3rd, Katie Gaston and I woke up at 6, caught a train to Victoria station, and from there caught a bus to Stansed airport. We then hopped on an 11 AM flight that flew into the city of Pisa. Our plan was to get off in Pisa, explore the Leaning Tower and all the other fun sites there, grab lunch, then take a 45 minute bus ride into the main train station in Florence, where our friend Caitlin would be waiting for us to bring us back to her villa, where we would be staying for the entirety of our time in Florence. Caitlin is also an NYU student and studying abroad in Florence, and her amazing villa (right up the street from the Accademia, mind you!) beats the heck out of the cubby-hole of a dorm I have back in London. I was so jealous! But I digress - here are some pictures of our little excursion to Pisa!

:::NOTE::: - if you want a closer look at any of the pictures, because they tend to look small on the posts, just click them and they should open up really big in a new window. I suggest doing it on some of the scenic pictures, because you don't want to miss out!! Also, I'm sure none of you would object to a closer look at my mug! :)



The typical hand-out "I'm pushing over the tower with my Herculean strength!" photo.

It was such a beautiful day too... a solid 74 degrees once we got into Pisa, and cloudless! The tower looked immaculate against the blue sky.

Of course, it was necessary that my first meal in Italy be pizza. We ate at this restaurant right around the corner from the tower, and I got pizza with prosciutto (sliced ham) and funghi (mushroom). It was DECADENT - thin crust, amazing sauce, flawless melted cheeses.... it was an out of body experience, for sure!

So that was our Pisa adventure. Upon hopping on the bus to Florence, we met Caitlin and exchanged some hugs, then took a 4 block walk over to her villa. All the streets in Florence look similar - terra cotta buildings, narrow cobble stone streets. It's so quaint and lovely. Once we dropped off our stuff and settled in, Caitlin took us out for dinner with her suite mates, and I got my first taste of Italian gnocchi - little balls of soft potato that are shaped like marbles, mixed up like pasta into a vodka sauce with parmesan cheese. The texture was outrageous and I absolutely loved it. Then we went around the corner and got our first taste of Italian gelato. Gelato is ice cream's better, more delicious older cousin. It's creamier, more flavourful, and the new love of my life. I don't know how I ever settled for ice cream before trying Italian gelato!! My first flavor was called Stracciatella - it was basically a cake batter kind of vanilla with chocolate chips mixed it. UNBELIEVABLE! After that, we decided to pack it in because we were tired from all of our traveling. We set our alarms for 7:30 the next morning, because we had a full itinerary - climb to the top of the Duomo and see the view of the city, meet our reservations at the Accademia and the Uffizi, check out the Bargello museum, and look at some of the souveniors and shops along the main market.

The weather was gorgeous Saturday morning, so we were so thrilled to get going. Our reservation for the Accademia was first - it was 20 seconds away from Caitlin's villa, so it was very easy to get to. The Accademia had some amazing pieces of Renaissance art, but of course, the most stunning and breath-taking of all was Michelangelo's David. I swear, pictures of that statue will never, ever suffice. Every human being should be under moral obligation to go and see it in person. It is absolutely HUGE - at least 12 feet tall. I was absolutely mesmerized by every aspect of that statue - the veins in his hands, the muscles in his legs and back, everything so lifelike and with excruciating detail. That any living thing could slave over a piece of rock and turn it into something that magnificient is beyond me. Katie and I stood there with our jaws dropped, staring at it for at least 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in both the Accademia and the Uffizi, so I can't post any of the great artwork I saw. But suffice it to say that both galleries were brimming with unbelievable talent, and I wished that I could stand there and soak in every picture for hours. Especially in the Uffizi - this gallery was absolutely massive, and took 3 hours for Katie and I to walk around and see everything. However, even 3 hours seems like a petty amount of time compared to what I wished I could spend there. The Uffizi has paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo and other greats. My favorite was seeing the Birth of Venus in person - it's so magnificent, and I always loved that piece of artwork after learning about it in my Con West class. I definitely have a new appreciation for art and for the Renaissance time period.

However, our trip to the Duomo came next, and we WERE allowed photos there, thankfully!! Entrance to the church was free, but to climb up the Duomo to the top to see the stunning view of Florence was 6 euros, which we were happy to dish out. The steps were treacherous and steep, and almost 300 in all, so you can imagine how physically trying it was to hike up there. But midway through the top, there was an area where you could stand inside the dome and see the huge inside, that was completely covered in a very elaborate painting of heaven, hell and purgatory. I tried to zoom in on some of the imagines (the ones of hell were actually rather disturbing!) but overall it was an amazing, colorful sight.

The inside of the dome... the upper layer that's darker in color is representative of the elite - the saints, God, the apostles, etc. Just below them are those in heaven.

Here's a zoomed in part of the lowest part of the dome - hell. If you look closesly you can see a grotesque monster eating a man and chomping him in half! And several dismembered bodies, as well as people with arrows through their torsos being ripped apart by monsters. Yum!!

So that was the inside of the dome. After climbing maybe another 150 steps, we finally were embraced by the daylight and hoisted ourselves up to the outside. The view was absolutely magnificent, and I hardly knew how to take it all in at first! You could stare out onto the city for hours if you wanted. Here are some pictures of the view:

Absolutely beautiful!
Here I am scoping out the city on one of those special binoculars they have on the top of the dome.

The red roofs were so distinctive and a major trademark of Florence. If you looked out in the skyline you saw all the rolling hills and mountains that border the city. It was something you had to see to believe!

After taking in the view from the Duomo, we walked back down the insane amount of steps and finally got back down to Earth. Our legs were literally shaking by the end! But it was a small price to pay for such an experience.

Afterwards, we tooled around the city and found a cute place to eat lunch. Here are some shots of some of the things we saw on our walks:


This is the door outside the Duomo.

Some amazing sidewalk chalk art! Can you believe how talented some people are?

Here I am on one of Florence's many narrow streets, enjoying yet another cone of gelato!

Some statues in the main square of Florence.

I thought this statue was so awesome - Medusa's head ripped off her body!

It drizzled at one point, and the city looked so chic and slick.


Imitating the lovely fountain behind me!

For dinner that night, I got spaghetti and clams in a garlic butter sauce with parmesan cheese. DROOL!! It was outstanding.

My all-time favorite Italian dessert - Profiderol. Basically, it's sweet tasting dough balls with custard in the middle, covered in a chocolate glaze and drenched in chocolate sauce. I can't even look at this picture without salivating out of control.

Katie G and I, hoping to break into this Chocolate heaven and steal everything!

Thus concluded our Saturday in Florence. The next day, we had booked a bike tour through Tuscany that we heard was phenomenal - it's a 13 km ride through the Tuscan valleys, and included is a tour of a main winery and oil producing castle in the city, with a wine tasting and a tour of the castle. After that, they take us to lunch at this precious little hidden restaurant, run by a local Tuscan family. Then they give us chances to sight see and take tons of pictures. The weather was immaculate and perfect for the trip - a solid 73 degrees and cloudless yet again.

Here's a view from the outer balcony of the castle we visited for the wine tasting - very lovely.

Here's our bicycle tour guide, Andy! He's from Scotland, and was very informative and funny. We all got a kick out of him. To his left is Caitlin, our Florence host, and Katie G to his right.

Another shot of lovely Tuscany.

Katie and I on the castle grounds with our first taste of wine.

They had glasses laid out for all of us after the tour, along with some really delicious bread and olive oil!

Just some of the many shelves of wine bottles that the castle produces.

After the tasting, we rode our bikes all through the hills and valleys. The scenery was like a painting!

Here I am with Caitlin and Katie, overlooking the castle. We're all ready with our helmets!

I can't remember the last time I rode a bike before this, but it was so much fun and quite a good workout! The three of us had a blast.

This was at lunchtime in that little restaurant in the hills - pointing out my first Italian taste of tiramousu! It was delish!

This picture is hilarious - I biked so much and so hard that I put two huge holes in my tights right below my butt!! Needless to say I tossed those bad boys away.

After the bike tour brought us back to Florence, we bid farewell to our great tour guide and decided to go home and shower up. Once done with that, we got dinner and walked all around the city at night. In one of the main squares, there's this huge carousel that looks so lovely in the nighttime.

There were tons of little kids on it, otherwise I would have waited and gone on it myself!

After yet another successful day in Italia, we decided to call it a night. The next day, Monday, marked our train ride over to Venice. It's about a 3 hour ride, and so we equipped ourselves with books and ipods and got ready for our second city. After getting into the main train station, Maestro, we hailed a cab that brought us to our hostel. The hostel is located outside the city of Venice, but the man who worked at check-in told us the bus routes and how to get to and from the city from our hostel. Apparently it was about a 20 minute bus ride and the buses come rather frequently. After dropping off all our belongings, we hopped on the bus and found ourselves right in the heart of the marvelous, water-bound city!

My first impression of Venice was, is this a fairy tale?! Venice is a marvelous, carless city where their version of the subway is the "vaporetto" - a water boat that leaves various places and brings you all around the major viewpoints. The city is laid out in such a way where there are big bridges that can bring you from one side of the water to the other, and on each side there are little alleys and streets with tons of shops, restaurants, etc. It's almost impossible to get lost in Venice because there's really no where to go - you'll eventually hit the water, or continue to walk around the side streets, and you can only go so far before you start to see things that look familiar. This made it such a great city to just walk around and take in one step at a time. Our first evening, we decided not to even try and go to any of the main attractions, but simply walk around and get a feel for the city. It was wonderful - there are so many little street fairs that sell Venetian masks, souveniors, etc. The shops are adorable, the people are happy and enthusiastic, and the food is, of course, delicious.


About to take my first vaporetto ride! here I am waiting for the boat to pull in.

A shot of us overlooking the city, on the vaporetto dock.



One of the many bridges that connects one side of the city to the other - this is the Rialto bridge, I believe.
St. Marks Basicila!! One of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen. The outside is stunning and unreal, and the inside is full of some of the most intriguing mosaic art. St. Mark's square in general was my favorite part of Venice - it was a huge open courtyard in front of the church where pigeons and birds flew all about, the water glistened to the right, and to the left there were countless restaurants where people played accordians and piano while you dined.
This is a picture from the balcony of St. Marks Basilica, overlooking St. Mark's square.

My travel buddy and I, enjoying the view!
Another shot from the balcony.

A better view of St. Mark's square.

In front of the Basilica.

I look so small compared to the enormous buildings!


Here's a scenic shot from the vaporetto I was riding at the time - such quaint little buildings and houses.

As it got later in the day, the sunset on the water was just gorgeous.

And thus concluded our first day in Venice! We decided to get on a 10 oclock bus that would bring us home. Once there, we collapsed on our beds and happily indulged in a good night's sleep after all our walking and traveling.

The next day, we decided to take a self-guided vaporetto tour of the city - we got on the number 2 vaporetto, and took it all the way around the water, and took pictures of everything we could. It was such a great way to get a good look at all parts of the city. We even took the vaporetto to Morano - a place in Venice that is famous for it's glass. They make these beautiful glass figurines, cups and plates, etc, which are defined by their vibrant colors. We were invited into one of the glass factories and got to watch a glass-blower take a long pipe looking thing, blow the glass into a huge bubble, then with two prongs he molded the melted glass into the shape of a horse - the entire process took about 40 seconds!! Then he set the horse on the table, it became solid, and voila - a flawless figurine. I swear, his hands moved so fast with the prongs that I could hardly believe he had molded a horse out of that goop so quickly! It was so interesting to see.

A shot from our vaporetto ride.

A better picture of the Rialto bridge.

Some pretty houses with cool ivy arches.

A photo opp near the vaporetto stop.

The water sparkled like diamonds!

A good look at some of the street fair-esque tents they had bordering St. Mark's square.


Standing on one of the many water-filled alleyways.


Overlooking some of the water taxis and gondolas people could rent out for rides!

The water and sky were a stunning shade of blue.

In one of the many tiny gardens bordering the water. Pretty tulips!

One of Venice's many quaint chapels.

Standing on the dock outside the aforementioned chapel.


The next day, we hit all the big touristy stuff - Doge's Palace (which has the biggest oil painting in the world apparently, it was HUGE and took up an entire room! Cameras weren't allowed unfortunately, so you'll have to go see it yourself!) which was stunningly beautiful and so regal-looking.

After that lovely day, thus ended up time in Italy!! The next morning marked my flight out of Marco Polo airport and into Budapest, where I would connect with a flight from Budapest to Athens. Katie G was flying back to London and ending her spring break with Venice. We woke up very early (5:30 am) and I took a bus out of Maestro that dropped me off at the airport. From there, I got all my flights in order and found myself arriving in the marvelous city of Athens at around 4 in the afternoon. Katie Kocur, who I would be spending my time in Greece with, had flown down the night before and already checked into our hostel, and she went on a walking tour with other people from the hostel that morning while she waited for my arrival. She already had maps and knew the lay of the land, so when my taxi dropped me off at the hostel and I finally got settled, she took me off and walked me all around the city for my first taste of Greece. Athens is such an intriguing city - parts of it remind me of Queens, with sidewalks and buildings and some graffiti here and there. But once you get into the heart of Athens, things really open up - mountains and cliffs grace the background of the city, old buildings made of stone with arches are found all over the place, and open areas of cobblestone where people meet and lounge out in the sun. Greece also has SO many adorable stray dogs that strut around the entire city - they even wait with the pedestrians to cross the street, and pay attention to the stoplights before crossing! It's so funny. Here are some pictures of my first evening in Athens:

A lovely shot of one of the main squares in Athens, Monastiraki. You can see the cliffs in the distance.

Our second day in Athens, we saw literally every main attraction, ancient ruins, and amazing site that Athens has to offer. To jump start the day, here I am in front of the Roman Agora.
This is the stunning view from Areopagus (Hill of Ares). It borderes the Greek agora in the middle of the city, and apparently was one of the main places where the locals go for picnics and (in some cases) to get really drunk. I'd be petrified to drink on such a high up hill! What crazies!

This is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus - one of Greece's many ancient theatres. It's actually still used for ballet productions now and then - can you imagine performing in such an amazing venue?

This is me in front of Acropolis! The ruins were so much fun to climb up.


The two of us in front of the Parthenon.

Sitting on a cliff overlooking the Odeon.

A great shot of the city.

Posing in front of another Greek Theater, Dionysus Theater.

In front of the Temple of Zeus - those columns were MASSIVE!

This is the National Garden - Athens actually got trees shipped in from California and other places all over the world to be put into this garden!

Us girls in front of the Roman Agora.

Outside the Parthenon.

Checking out the Greek flag!

I really like this picture of us! Overlooking the Parthenon from a cliff.


Katie put her camera on self-timer and set it on a rock to get this picture of us - we would later implement her self-timing skills in many future photo opportunities. (You'll see later!)

More Acropolis.

This is front of the first ever modern Olympic Stadium! It was breathtaking, and the circular seating was dizzying.

It's hard to see, but in the distance in the middle of the stadium they have a big statue of the 5 Olympic Rings hoisted in the sky.
Another picture from Dionysus theater (self timer picture number 2!)

Part of the Temple of Zeus - we look so tiny next to those columns.

One of the guards outside the House of Parliament! What an outfit. (He was a GIANT in person, too!)

A fountain near the House of Parliament.

Inspired by the older stadium, we took the metro train over to the 2004 Olympic Stadium in outer Athens. It was SO beautiful. The sloping beams surrounding all the stadiums was such a delight for the eyes!

Posing in front of the soccer stadium in the back.

Checking out the entrance.

So eager to go onto that field and play! Originally we thought all the doors were locked and we wouldn't be able to go into the stadium. But after searching around for some time....

...we managed our way in!!!! And it was well worth it. I got chills looking down on the huge soccer pitch, I cannot imagine what it must feel like to play in front of that many people! (This is self timer picture #3 FYI!)

It was even more massive in person!

That night, we climbed up to the highest point in all of Athens - Lykavittos hill. It didn't come out in the picture, but the entire city was illuminated and breathtaking in the nighttime. The hill stands something like 1200 feet high, and we had to climb all the way up by foot -it took about 20 minutes and we were winded beyond belief! But seeing the city at night from such heights was just magical.

This is one of the many chapels that were found around the Athens area - they're quite small but very lovely.

And thus concluded our 2 days in Athens, which we certainly made the most of! Our meals were delicious - our hostel had good breakfast deals so we usually started the day off eating some yummy yogurt and honey with granola (they're big on yogurt in greece) and some fried eggs. The Greeks LOVE their feta cheese, so a Greek salad was always in style. Tzaziki sauce is also big, and I am obsessed with it - it's a creamy white kind of spread with veggies and herbs that goes on bread mostly, but they love to put it in their gyros or sandwiches. It is just out of this world!! Some other dishes include kebabs, souvlaki, and basically anything with lamb. It was a nice switch from all the pasta I ate in Italy! They also have this appetizer where they wrap feta cheese up in olive leaves, which I loved.

On our last night in Athens, we got ready to brave the treacherous 12 hour bus ride it would take to bring us to the island of Corfu, where we would be spending the next week in the famous beach resort the Pink Palace. The bus would drive us there and hop on the ferry with all our belongings, and we would check-in that morning around 7. I was hoping to get a solid amount of sleep on the bus, but I was so preoccupied with looking around at the scenery that I didn't really get much shut eye. By the time we were finally checked into the Palace at 8 in the morning, we decided we were too tired to do much of anything and set our alarms for 12 PM for a nice 4 hour nap. After getting the sleepies out, we awoke rejuvenated and ready to explore our marvelous little beach land!
This is a picture of part of Agios Gordis beach, where the Pink Palace was situated. The water and scenery was unbelievable, and it was a flawless sunny day when we awoke.

We took advantage of the nice weather and rented out kayaks from the hostel, and paddled all around the beach! Katie took her camera along and snapped some action shots.

This is the best self-timer picture of them all - Katie positioned her camera on a rock in the water and we managed to paddle our kayaks close together just in time! One false move and that camera would have been soaked! But it was worth it just for the great picture.

We pulled our kayaks up on shore and explored some of the bordering scenery across the beach. They had some random statues up alond the shore, and here I am impersonating one.

The background almost doesn't look real! But trust me, it was.

The next morning was also a lovely day, so we took some more beach photos on the moss-covered rocks.

Self timer #5!
Katie, impersonating the Little Mermaid on her big rock!

A beautiful picture of some of the beach and the cliffs.

This was taken from the balcony of our room in the Pink Palace - imagine waking up to that view every morning!

Frolicking on the sand.

That night, the Pink Palace was hosting its weekly Toga Party!! We were able to rent out togas from the front desk, and they fed us all a yummy dinner and put on some crazy Greek music and we danced the night away with all the other residents.

In our hot pink togas!!!

Dancing away with the other decked out Pink Palace people.

At one point during the party, they had these two Greek performers come in and do an authentic Greek Dance. They then set a chair on fire and picked it up with their teeth and balanced it on their heads!! It was so exciting and got the crowd roaring!

The next day, we decided to take a taxi from the Pink Palace into Corfu town, where a lot of the main attractions of the island can be found. Katie and I stumbled upon this Byzantine art museum with really interesting paintings, and it was situated in this old fortress that you could climb up and see the view of Corfu from. Here are a few pictures from our climb up:

That lighthouse above us is where we ended up when we finished climbing.

Overlooking the bell tower and the town.

One of the several amazing sights from the top.


That was the entirety of what we climbed - you can see the bell tower to the left and the lighthouse looking really teeny from down on ground.

We came across some pretty areas decked out in flowers aroudn the fortress - these matched my dress!

A shot of the rocky walls of the fortress and the water.

Self timer #6! A cute picture of us on a log near the water.

Some more of the rocky ruins lying around the fortress.


A stunning picture of this house built into the cliffs.
Katie and I posing at the top.

A scenic view of the marvelous blue water and sky.

After getting a yummy lunch in town, we headed back to the Palace by taxi in time for dinner. With our package, we always got free breakfast and dinner at the Palace, and dinner always started at 8:30 and was held in the Pavillion right near our rooms. It was always really delicious and the main course always came with a yummy greek salad, some soup, bread and tzaziki sauce. After our free dinner, we lounged out on the beach to catch some remaining rays, and called it a night.

The next day, it unfortunately rained. Since the Pink Palace is pretty dependant on beach weather to be fun, we were unsure of things to do to pass the time until the sun shone again. Thankfully, my British comrade Tom came to the rescue! His mother and stepdad live in Corfu and he had arrived that day to visit them until the 25th. He was able to rent out a car for the three of us, and took us driving to all the great Corfu sights he knew about. Our first stop was Anchillion Palace. The palace is named after Achilles, and was constructed under the order of the Empress of Austria, Elizabeth of Bavaria, aka Sissi. In 1898, Empress Sissi was assassinated in Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 60. After her death the palace was sold to the German Kaiser Willhelm II, and was eventually acquired by the Greek State. The Achilleion has since been converted into a museum.

Tom and I standing on the balcony overlooking the Palace grounds.

Katie and I, bordering the entrance to the gardens.

Us again, standing under the beautiful canopy of flowers.

A view of the courtyard - the checkerboard marble floor was really stunning, and it was sprinkled with statues all over the place.

A view of one of the several statues and pretty corners of the outer gardens.

After our eventful day at the palace, we got a delicious Greek dinner in town and then drove back to Tom's parent's house in the hills. It was a really lovely home and we played with his adorable puppy, Alfie! After resting our legs and hanging out, he dropped us back at the Palace for the night.

The next day, the sun opened up for us! Tom brought us over to another of Corfu's main beaches, Pelekas beach. We had a nice time strolling around and soaking up the sunshine.


Katie and I on the shore, enjoying the views.

After a nice stroll, Tom took us on a twisty and turny ride around this huge mountain in order to reach the highest point in Corfu (we're all about getting to the highest point of whatever city we happen to be in, I've realized!). It's called Pantokrator and it stands 917 meters tall. At the top is a lovely monestary where an old Monk lives, and he lets people go in and take pictures once they reach the top. The view from the mountain, of course, was just unreal.

Us ladies, with the Greek hills and mountains surrounding us. We were so high it it felt like we were in the clouds!

In front of the official sign - "welcome to the Top!"

My two travel buddies and I, on top of the world.

Posing on one of the circular view-points on the mountain.

The scenery... ahhhhhhhhh.

After that amazing voyage, we got dinner together as usual - we found this yummy place in town where I got lamb with a mushroom sauce, potatoes and saganaki - fried feta cheese, which is probably the worst thing in the world health wise, but the most amazing thing taste wise. SOO delicious, salty and cheesy and amazing. A quality dinner!

And thus marked our last day in Corfu! ::sob!:: It was so sad to say goodbye to the delicious beach weather (I got a tan, so no more pasty pale London skin!) and the amazing Greek food (I got a bit of a baby bump from all the food I ate in Italy and Greece, so a MAJOR workout session is in order to do some damage control on this gut!) and the lovely views that surrounded us. Tom bid us farewell and we thanked him for being the best tour guide ever, and for saving us from the boredom of our 2 rainy days.

Saying farewell on our last night!!

The next morning, we checked out of the Pink Palace and got a taxi into Corfu's airport. From there, we took a quick and easy 1 hour flight back into Athens - a far cry from the 12 hour bus ride!! Once in Athens, we went through customs and awaited our 5 oclock flight back to London. We got on the plane, watched Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler, got to eat that amaaaazing airplane dinner I talked about in the beginning, and found ourselves back into Stansed airport by about 7:30. I made reservations for an 8:05 bus to bring me back to Victoria station, where I could catch the tube back to Kings Cross. It was such an interesting feeling taking the tube again and seeing London after being in such different cities with such different dynamics. I felt relieved, almost like "whew, it's good to be home again!" It was definitely great returning to the city I had come to know and love so much over these past 4 months. Although I adored my time in Italy and Greece, I feel like I'll always be partial to lovely London. It's modernized and fast pased, but with so much culture and history that you always feel connected to the past. The perfect balance of everything you could want in a city!

I finally walked through the doors of Nido at about 10 o'clock, partially unpacked, threw on pajamas and fell into a much needed, delicious sleep. I didn't wake up until 12:30 the next morning either! But when I woke up I felt refreshed and good as new. I was then able to go back and look at all the pictures and souveniors from my travels, and already felt a pang of nostalgia for the many lands I was able to see. How time can move both fast and slow truly amazes me. And, for now, I'm going to do everything I can to make my last month in London as wonderful as I possibly can. I want to make the most out of every place I see and every moment I have here, and so long as I continue to soak up all the culture and life around me, I know I'll be able to come home with no regrets - just memories that will last a lifetime!

Whew, this entry has reached epic proportions! It's so hard to recap for experiences such as these, but hopefully this can convey just some of the special moments I had on my travels. I can't stop looking at all the photos and asking myself if it all really happened! But it's far from over - this weekend I'll be in Paris and will have even more stories to tell! So, enjoy my summary of spring break, and be prepared for even more tales of the land of crepes and escargot! Au revior!!!

Instead of British term of the day, I give you...
Greek term of the day:
"Malaker" - an insult that means something along the lines of "jerkoff" or "jackass." Often shouted during traffic jams, bar fights or other sticky situations. Do NOT call someone a malaker unless you're prepared for the consequences!