Out on the Coast

After leaving Milan we made our way out to the coast of Italy to a small city called Rapallo.  It was seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life!! There was an amazing ocean side mixed this charming little Italian city.  Our hotel was up on a mountain side and had a view over looking the ocean that words cannot describe.  It is by far my favorite place on our trip! 

While we were there we rented vespas to drive around the neighboring cities.  It was sooo much fun!! I highly recommend this to anyone that visits the coast of Italy.  I have to warn you though, it can be dangerous!  While I was driving one of them I almost crashed going into a round about and caught my foot on the curb.  I included pictures of my bloody toe because I'm sure that everyone wants to see it ;) No serious injuries though and I still had the time of my life! We drove around Rapallo and then made our way around to another city called Portofino... and you'll never guess who we met there!  As we were walking around we saw Jerry Seinfeld eating lunch with Bono!! Bono walked out right then so we asked for a picture and he said yes.  Then we went up to Seinfeld and his wife and asked them for a picture but they said no.  That was a little disappointing but we just walked away and took one of them from far away.  Meeting Bono was so cool though!  We didn't really get a chance to talk to him but he seemed very nice and was very willing to stop and take a picture with us.  

Rapallo was so amazing and I was really sad to leave!  One day I want to come back and live here.  Now starts the real adventure though.  After Rapallo my parents and I are driving down to Rome where they will drop me off and I'll hook up with my study abroad group.  I can't wait!! 

Watching the sun set on a hill side over looking the ocean

The view from our hotel balcony 

All of the houses are built right into the mountain side

In front of a huge yacht in Portofino

Vespa adventure!

Riding on the back while my dad drove

My advice... don't drive a vespa in sandals 

It looked really bad but didn't hurt at all 

The whole city was so beautiful! 

Meeting BONO

He was really nice!

It looks like she is shielding her face from us but I promise she isn't... after they shot us down for a picture we walked across the square and took one from really far away with my mom's nifty camera.  Seinfeld was nothing compared to Bono though! 

I LOVED the coast of Italy!! By far my favorite place yet and I can't wait to go back! 

Milano- like the cookie

I'm finally in Italy!  

On Tuesday morning we flew into the city of Milan and stayed in a great hotel right in the center of the city.  We only stayed there for one day so of course in the fashion capitol of the world we spent most of our time SHOPPING!  (although most of it was window shopping at all of the top designer stores)   Aside from shopping we also saw the HUGE Duomo in the center of Milan and the Galleria.  

The Duomo in Milan, it is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world

The square in front of the Duomo

Having my first Gelato in Italy... It was amazing! 

The fountain just outside of our hotel

The Galeria across from the Duomo

Inside the Galeria in front of a few designer stores

All of the streets looked like a painting

There were these random fake plastic cars with trees coming out of them lining the streets... we're not really sure why they were there

On our way out of Milan we stopped by the mission office to drop off a package for Anziano Wallace.  It was so fun and the senior missionaries in the office were so cute!  We stayed and visited with them for almost an hour

In front of the mission home across the street from the mission office

Now we're off to the coast of Italy. 

Paris, Paris, Paris

The next stop on our European Adventure was Paris...

This city was also amazingly beautiful.  I can see why they call it the city of love!  There are people kissing all over the place.  Makes it a bit uncomfortable but is really entertaining and definitely adds to the Paris atmosphere.  

Our favorite place to be was on the Champs-Elysees.  It leads right up to the Arc de Triomphe and has great shopping, restaurants and interesting people.  The city over all had more of a calm feeling then London I thought.  Before visiting France I never really liked the french language but after being around it for three days I now find it really pretty and eloquent.  The people were generally nice and because we were right in the city it was fairly easy to get around using just english.  Although my mom thinks she has a really convincing French accents... trust me, she doesn't. 

Besides shopping and eating A LOT we visited the Arch de Triomphe, Eiffel tower, Notre-Dame, and the Orsay and Louvre museums.  There was so much to see it was almost overwhelming but really fun at the same time. 

Our very cute hotel room.  It looked like a little apartment! 

View of the upstairs where my parents slept

In front of the Arc de Triomphe

The other side of the Arc de Triomphe

On the very top of the Eiffel Tower.  We were lucky enough to be on the top while the sun was setting.  The view was incredible!

After coming down from the top

There are pigeons everywhere!  I always tried to get a picture with them but every time they flew away... I finally succeeded 

In front of the Louvre

The famous Mona Lisa.  It is blocked off so the closest you can get to it is like 10 feet away and it is covered by a protective glass.  I'll be honest, it wasn't quite as exciting as I was expecting.  Still very cool though

Got a little bored on our audio tour...

The statue of Venus de Milo.  This was definitely my favorite piece at the Louve, it's beautiful up close

On the tour in the room with the Mona Lisa, the painting behind us was HUGE

Pretty sunset in Paris 

Notre-Dame

Pretending to be Quasimoto.  We were laughing really hard and a lot of French people were laughing at us! 

In front of the Orsay

Me and my friend Van Gogh

This is my absolute favorite sculpture.  I was so excited to see it in person.  Ever since my parents saw it in Paris a couple of years ago I have wanted to go to the Orsay just to see this.  It is Degas' "Tiny Dancer" and is so cute.  It is a bronze sculpture with a real fabric skirt and a real ribbon tied around her bronze hair. 

In front of the palace of Versailles.  It just happened to be closed the day that we went so unfortunately we weren't able to go inside but we took a tour of the grounds

Right behind the main palace

Our last night in Paris at a restaurant on the Champs-Elysees

We had an amazing time in Paris!