Farewell Europe, Goodbye London and Friends

Pics:

1) Jorge, me, Jana, Susan and Jennifer

2) National Gallery on Trafalgar

3) Nelson's Column and Trafalgar

4) Arch on the Mall leading to Trafalgar

5) Sign acknowledging that Gandhi lived at this residence

I flew back to London to sort out my flight home and say goodbye to my friends. I was there two days, and got a chance to get some last minute pictures of the places I've taken for granted while working there. I'll miss a lot of the people here; given the circumstances, you really learn to realize who your true friends are, and I've learned I have a lot of good friends here. Most of them internationals who probably won't be there the next time I go, so this was really a unique goodbye experience. I may see these people again, but I doubt I'll ever get them all together again.

Rome, Italy

Roma Roma! Ok, so I definitely loved Rome. The Vatican was spectacular, the Coliseum was

everything I imagined (and more), the atmosphere was incomparable. This is an amazing city. So vibrant and alive, pizza and pasta everywhere, I even tried my first cappucino. For someone who doesn't like coffee, that's a big deal..and I loved it! This turned out to be the last city of my trip due to things happening at home, but it was a good

way to go out. I was able to spend more time with Sonia and Seema from Vancouver (who I met in Florence), and we met up with Pete from Scotland who I met in Budapest. I was nice to be in such a great city with such great people.

Pics:

1) Woman Mummy in Vatican Museum

2) The Vatican Museum

3) No Sistine Chapel, but not too shabby

4) 'The Thinker' by Rodin. Saw this in Paris, not sure which is the original now...

5) Vatican Wall (Museum Entrance)

6) St. Peter's Bascilica

7) Spanish Steps

8) Pantheon

9) Arco di Constantino

10) Cheers to the Coliseum (note the German and Mexican beers)

11) Coliseum

12) Vittoriale

13) Fontana di Treva (if you throw a penny behind your back into the fountain, you'll return to Rome...I'll return)

14) Last European dinner with Seema, Sonia, and Pete

15) Coliseum at night

Florence, Italy

Pics:

1) Cathedral

2) Cathedral again

Aaaah, Florence. The city I truly took for granted. I wasn't here long. One day I went to Pisa, the second day I wandered a bit, but then because I met some really cool Canadian girls, I went to Rome a day early. I really didn't see much of Florence as you can probably guess from my lack of pictures, but sometimes it's more important to be with cool people than be in cool places. I may go back someday, but I'm really not overly fussed to be honest.

Pisa, Italy

Pics:

1) Eating PIZZA in front of the Leaning Tower of PISA hahaha, how funny is that

2) Me sitting on the tower

3) Me leaning on the tower

4) Me pushing the tower

5) Erin, her sister Laureen and I

6) The gang taking goofy pics

Funny story: First day I arrive in Florence, I'm walking down the street with my backpack on to find the hostel, and lo and behold I run into a girl I went to university with! Just randomly on the streets of Florence, I see a girl from Edmonton I haven't seen in three years!! So bizarre! Talk about a small world. My first day I went with Erin and a few others to Pisa to see the leaning tower. We ate pizza in Pisa, and spent the afternoon in the sun chilling and taking the dumbest touristy photos we could think of. I headed back to Florence, and they all moved on to Rome or elsewhere.

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Budapest, Hungary

Pics:

1) The Irish girls (Sive and Sarah)

2) Statue at Citadella

3) Me in Budapest

4) Millenium Square

5) Funky Mini

6) Parliament

7) Memorial to the 1953 uprisings, outside Parliament

8) St. Stephen's Cathedral

9) Budai Var

10) The Danube with Parliament in the background

Budapest was nice and hot. Beautiful weather while I was there. Everyone said to me how amazing the city was, and it was pretty cool, but I don't think it was one of my favourite's by any means. I met some pretty cool people though, two nice Scottish guys and a couple of lovely Irish girls. The first day I had in Budapest, I just sat in the park with the Irish girls, relaxed, talked, etc. It was really nice. I've learned that even when travelling, sometimes you need to just sit in the park and chillax.

Bratislava, Slovakia

Pics:

1) 'UFO' Bridge

2) View of bridge from castle

3) Hrad Castle

4) Slovak Parliament

5) Tom and I on the Danube

6) Town Hall

7) Presidential Palace

8) Hrad Castle

9) "The Worker"

I originally decided to go to visit Bratislava because a friend of mine that I worked with in Edmonton is studying there. I thought, hey why not go see Tom? So I did. And it turns out this is a lovely quaint city on the river Danube. We had good weather while I was there, saw some of the sights, and just hung out together. I did manage to try the local absynth, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are certainly known for this. I was obsessed with their modern 'UFO' Bridge across the Danube, and I really enjoyed hanging out with Tom. Looking forward to seeing him again this summer in Etown.

Krakow, Poland

Pics:

1) Slowacki's Theatre

2) The Barbican

3) Kazimierz shops

4) St. Mary's

5) Cloth Hall on Market Square

6) Market Square

7) Wawel Castle

8) Castle Gate

9) View from Wawel of Krakow

Krakow was a really beautiful city. I woke up on a Thursday in Krakow to the sound of church singing in the Market Square. I went out to find the square packed with people, all focussed around St. Mary's Basilica. I spent some time in the square just in awe of this sight, then continued on through the city. The castle, Wawel, was pretty amazing. It's free to go inside the walls, you only have to pay to see the indoor exhibitions which I opted out of. You get a great view of the city from Wawel Hill anyway. I continued on to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter of Krakow. It was an interesting neighbourhood, very vibrant, with new Synagogues, Jewish buisnesses and eateries, etc. Apparently during WWII, Kazimierz was turned into a ghetto.