Rome

Basically Rome was a terrible experience. It all started with the airport. We didn't get there until 12:30 am, and we weren't 100% sure where to go because the airport was an hour away from our hotel. We went to the information kiosk and the lady told us to get the bus to the city centre, then walk. Two girls, walking alone at 1am in a foreign country? No thanks. We ended up getting a cab to our hotel (no one knew where our hotel was though and the cab driver didn't talk any English). The roads are all cobblestone, and as sure as I'm here typing this blog post, I will never complain about bumpy roads in Newfoundland again. I seriously thought that my spleen had ruptured; it was wild.

Rome itself is the most poor looking place that I have ever been. I actually referred to it as Cuba 2.0, which is an insult to Cuba. The only places that weren't filled with graffiti were the churches, the Vatican and the Colosseum. There were homeless people absolutely everywhere, and people coming up to you asking for money. Which is fine, some people have hard lives, but they legit follow you around and make you feel like they're going to mug you; it's scary.

Our first day, we went on a bus tour and were able to see most of the city. A lot of it is very pretty yes, but I just could't get past all of the graffiti. We went around one full turn and decided to go get some lunch. We went to this little pizza place on the corner of the street. There was a guy and an older lady working there. The lady bumped into the guy and made him drop a pizza, I thought he was going to stab her, he was so mad (and it was his fault). The pizza we had (not the one from the floor) was delicious, but kind of expensive. While we are eating lunch, we hear a lot of noise outside. When we look outside, we see the biggest (peaceful) protest that we've even seen. It basically shut down the road and we were stuck in that little bit of Rome for like two hours.

When the bus started running again, we were able to see the Colosseum, which is absolutely surreal;
it is very pretty and to think that it was built so very long ago. We did go inside a little bit, but there were too many people and because of the protest, time was limited, so we didn't stay long enough to actually get to the middle (we should have).

When we left there, we went to the Vatican (it's also very pretty). Warning: if you go to the Vatican, prepare for literally dozens of people to coming to you asking for money. These people are dressed in rags and look so hopeless, it will actually make you feel terrible. Again, it gave us a weird feeling because they were persistent and followed us.

I should mention that by this point, I've twisted my ankle probably 6 times because of the rain and uneven cobblestones (and my clumsiness). We get back on the bus and she informs us that this is the last bus and she'll be dropping us off at the last stop (which is a 10 minute walk from our hotel if you know your way around Italy). The lady gives us directions to our hotel and we're on our way. On our way under a bridge that has absolutely no lighting and is where all the homeless people stay. I basically just wanted to cry the whole time. We made it to the other side of the bridge and went into a store where we asked for directions again. These little old ladies tried so hard to help us, but they didn't speak any English. After stopping in multiple hotels and hostels, and cursing a lot, we were finally in a region that we knew. That's when we decided to go for supper...

I decided to have spaghetti and a coke (found out later that the coke cost like $8 CAD :|). The meal was lovely, the service was lovely, until we had to pay. I asked to pay with visa and the dude basically told me off, saying how inconvenient it was for him that I wasn't paying in cash. He was the rudest person I've ever encountered. We went back to our hotel and basically died because we just wanted to go back to England.

The next day we basically just shopped around for a bit because we had to leave to go to the airport 2, so we didn't have a whooole lot of time to do anything else. We finally found a McDonalds and had a half sensible meal. I say half sensible because they messed up my BigMac (9 countries now!), but the fries were delicious. There was also a man walking around McDonalds with a cup, asking for money :|. After that, we went back to the airport where we found some more rude people, and we were off to England!!

When it comes to Rome, as my dear old friend Taylor says:

Scotland

I'm going to do this entry as a combined thing as opposed to the different dates.

Not gonna lie, I only wanted to go to Scotland because that's where we were seeing Ed Sheeran. After
spending some time there, it is the BEST place that I've been. The people are so polite, and cute and their accents are theee best. I would one hundred percent consider going back there and visiting longer, maybe even living there (who knows?). Also, almost everywhere in the UK has somewhere/something named St.John's and it makes me really homesick.

I'm going to start by talking about the reason I went. ED SHEERAN. I would like to say that that man
is absolutely amazing. He has the voice of an angel, like it's actually beautiful. If you ever get the chance to see him live, do it (I've seen him twice now); the things he can do with his guitar are absolutely amazing.

So we saw Ed in Glasgow, and ventured about Glasgow a bit but we also spent a day in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh we went on a bus tour so that we could see as much of it as possible in a day. We went up to the castle, saw a man playing the bagpipes and did some shopping. There's not a whole lot to say about it, but overall it was a lovely day.

On the way back to Glasgow, the train ride was an hour and a half long; and my phone died. So I was very, very bored. I dozed off a couple of times because when it's dark outside you can't see anything but your reflection when you look out the train window. When there was about 45 minutes left, these four girls dressed up for Halloween, started singing Taylor Swift's new songs and started talking about them (all in their wonderful Scottish accent). So I was entertained for the last bit of the journey, at least. When we got back to our hotel, we had some pizza and beers and then went to sleep because it was a pretty exhausting day, and we were going back to Harlow the next day.

France

October 25th, 2014

France! First of all, France isn't as dirty as everyone makes it seem. I mean, yeah it's not the cleanest place on this planet, but it's also not the dirtiest. As for the smell.. It's not constant but every so often there is a pungent smell of I don't even know what. Just imagine the smell of the dirtiest public bathroom you've ever been in and multiply it by ten. 

Notre Dame

Our day started with a 2 hour train ride to Paris. The train wasn't the best experience that I've ever had, however I would choose it over flying (when it's cheaper) every single time. Once we got to the train station, that's when the fun started. Note: don't be alarmed if you see soldiers carrying huge guns walking around, apparently it's normal.We bought our 5 day travel card and tried to make our way to the hotel. If you're intimidated by the tube in London, let me tell you something: compared to the metro in France, the tube is child's play. I have never in my life witnessed so many people in such a small box. I really wish I had taken a picture of it so that I could show you. Once we made it to the street, we found our hotel and took an hour to regroup. 

Once we had freshened up and stuff, we decided we would go to the Notre Dame (the metro was less scary on the way there), it is absolutely beautiful. We didn't

Locks on the Bridge

actually go inside because there were 15 million people in front of it, and there was some kind of ritual happening. After taking some pictures we decided to walk down the road a little bit and that's when we discovered the lock bridge. It was one of the coolest things we did in Paris, being able to look at all of the locks and wonder about all the stories behind them. While we were there, a couple who had just gotten married put a lock on the bridge, and another couple asked Meighan to take a picture while they were putting their lock on. It was the cutest.

After that, we did some shopping in the little souvenir stores along the roads and found a subway. And, that's how our first day ended; sat on our bed eating subs. 

October 26th, 2014

L'Arc de Triomphe

By our second day, we had figured out the metro system, so travelling was fairly easy. We started off our day at L'Arc de Triomphe, which was absolutely beautiful (and huge). We were able to stand under the Arc, which was absolutely breathtaking. We sat down for a few minutes, just to take it all in and to pay our respects, then we were on way again.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower. What can I say? It was a dream come true. I still cannot believe that little ol' me from little ol' Shearstown was stood underneath the Eiffel Tower. It was a very emotional moment because even though I always dreamt of it, I never imagined that it would actually happen. There were a lot of people around, so we didn't actually go up in the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to spend the day seeing the rest of Paris and not standing in a lineup. 

We went on a river cruise, which was a great way to see most of Paris. We could hop off at any port next to the major attractions,

Part of the River Cruise

so we decided to hop off at the Louvre. It was lunchtime, and we were hungry. One small problem; try finding a restaurant or a place to eat near the Louvre. There are restaurants literally everywhere, except there. There was one little café on the whole stretch, we ended up paying an arm and a leg for a meal. The Louvre, was kind of boring, not going to lie. It was cool to be there an all, but after we saw the Mona Lisa and looked around for a bit, we were more than ready to leave.

We went back to the Eiffel Tower (because why not?) and bought a crêpe. It was absolutely delicious and everything I had ever imagined. We were absolutely exhausted, so we stayed long enough to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night (omg), before heading back to our hotel.

October 27th, 2014

Selfie with the Castle

Disneyland Paris! So exciting; there are so many great things at Disney. We went to the park that's very similar to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando the first day. The first ride we went on was Space Mountain: Mission 2, it was so different from the ride in Orlando and it was absolutely amazing. There are so many different things about Disneyland Paris, such as the size of the park; both parks were separated by a five minute walk. There's also the fact that the castle in the park in Sleeping Beauty's castle, not Cinderella's. It was the most beautiful day, sunny and warm; I almost forgot that it was the end of October. We had a lot of fun, got our picture took with Mickey Mouse, even caught the end of the parade (which now features Frozen :D), but by the end of the day we were absolutely exhausted and more than happy to go

My polaroids <3

back to our hotel.

When we got back to our hotel, I FINALLY was able to download 1989. I listened to it all and absolutely died because it's perfect. Mom texted me to tell me she had bought the hard copy for me, and send me a picture of my polaroids, let's just say it was the perfect ending to a lovely day! 

October 28th

Walt Disney Studios

Day 2 of Disney. So because it was so hot the previous day and I had been so warm in my jeans, I decided to wear just a thin sweater and some leggings. BIG MISTAKE. It was absolutely freezing and misty all day. We went to Walt Disney Studios (the other park), where we got in the lineup for the Tower of Terror. After about 30 minutes, they told us the ride wasn't working and we could come back later; we we completely rotted. We were convinced that this was about to be the crappiest day ever. But thankfully it wasn't. Other than being cold, we had the most brilliant time. We were even able to get on the Tower of Terror later that day, and the coolest roller coaster ever, Crush's coaster (Finding Nemo). 

Once it started to get dark, we were getting hungry and wanted to go home. So we decided to look for something to eat. Guess what we found? McDonalds (yaaaasss). So now, I have had a Big Mac meal in five different countries. While, the Canadian Big Mac is the best, the Big Mac in France was a very close second. 

After we ate, we went back to our hotel and packed up for our early train back this morning.