HOLY MOLY! It has been almost exactly a month since we have last spoken, blogosphere! Rats, I have always meant to be more on top of things.. but you know, even the journaled tales have only just left Croatia... so, let´s see... prague was last? Yikes. Since then, we have been to Vienna, where we walked around, saw a few palaces, met up with our friend Adam we met in Copenhagen, saw a classical concert in a venue smaller than the hall we had piano recitals in, and acquired some bed bugs. Next we took a train to Croatia, and Split in specific, where we spent a day, and then took a ferry over to Korcula where we spent the next few days in a hostel called Dragan´s Den. A hostel where we rid ourselves of the bedbugs by doing three loads of laundry that we may or may not have paid for... But it was absolutely fantastic. We went cliff jumping (yes even Logan) and swam in the gorgeous Adriatic sea. Next we headed to Dubrovnik, where we stayed with a wonderful woman and her family who had a gorgeous view of the Gruz bay. We walked around the old town, went to two spectacular beaches, and had a tour of three of the surrounding islands with a captain who insisted that you couldn´t drink fanta without a little bit of brandy, even at ten in the morning (and by a little bit I mean a little bit more... yikes). But it was fantastic. Then we took an overnight ferry to Bari, where we learned that chairs are not so comfortable, and took a train and then two busses to find our hostel in Positano, which was absolutely gorgeous. I´m telling you, we were going from spectacular view to spectacular view... In Positano, we took a day trip to Pompeii and then skipped over to Naples for some pizza (an experience that was not so transcendental as Eat, Pray, Love made it out to be... though that could have been because the entire town was covered in garbage...). Then we spent a day on another amazing beach, and another day relaxing on Capri and taking a boat tour around the island. THEN we got to Rome, where we stayed with the wonderful Susanna and were able to truly relax for a few days and just enjoy being with friends and italian food. Truly, we were spoiled rotten with all of the amazing cuisine... grilled zucchini and zucchini flower pizza type thing... caprese salad with the most delicious tomatoes I´ve ever eaten... amazing bread... artichoke lasagne... tiramisu... kiwi and pineapple and raspberry sorbet... pasta.... ahhhhhh..... To go back... Though I would go back just to see Susanna and all her housemates again. Everyone was so kind and fun and funny, and we had a great time playing cards and just sitting around the table talking. It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Logan and I were both very sad to leave Rome. But we luckily were also able to spend the night with the Angelinis, where Livia showed us around the city and told us all about the little cars that Italian teenagers drive (they´re like smartcars but with the motor of a scooter and you can drive them when you´re fourteen). It was so nice to be with them--Nicole even helped us figure out our travel plans. It was great, and I even got a little teary when we said goodbye to her at the train station.
But now we are in Barcelona, after a very long boat ride across the mediterranean. It was rather rocky... We´ve now been here for three nights and are leaving tomorrow night on an over night train to Paris, to avoid paying for a hostel as they are very expensive and also all booked up. We´ve had a great time in Barcelona--we went to the beach, saw a lot of Gaudi´s architecture, made a really good friend, and were robbed. Don´t worry--we´ll survive, they mainly took our foreign money (as in Kuna and various Kroner) and only got a few pounds. It´s actually quite a surprising and slightly amusing story... I´ll have to tell you in person, cause you won´t believe it if I just write it down. Let´s just say we were not pickpocketed, in the normal sense (I´m much too smart for that...).
Also, in other news, I have now booked every hostel we´ll need until we leave for home. Sad, but I have to say, it´s kind of a relief. Just knowing exactly where we´ll be over the next few days is great feeling (and so is knowing that I¨m going back to England). Sometimes I feel like I canNOT wait until I get back home and can hug everyone again, and sit in the shade of the Chicago buildings and have a picnic... but tonight was not one of those nights. Tonight was one of those nights that I wish I could be traveling forever and just keep on meeting people and seeing new things and having fun. And the strange thing is, we didn´t really do anything that exciting. We went to the beach, had some fun finding chorizo and cheese for our pasta tonight, only to realize that we´d forgotten to label the pasta and someone else had eaten it. So we just used the left over pasta from last night, someone´s left over red pepper and zuchinni (I like zuchinni now!) and made one of the most delicious pasta dinners I´ve ever made myself. It was absolutely fantastic.
But, that doesn´t stop me from looking forward to a good turkey barbecue and corn dinner when we get back... Also, for some reason, I have been REALLY craving a root beer. So, I don´t know if I´ll be able to post again until I get to my computer in a week (YIKES really, I¨ll be in bath in a little over a week! Shikies!), so just know that I love you all and think about you often.
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