Nice/Monaco - winning the big money :)

I went to the French Riviera with my roommate, her boyfriend and my friend Kevin for a short two-day weekend that I had in April. The French Riviera is composed of small cities that border the coastline of South France. Nice (pronounced niece) and Monaco were two of the towns that I visited for the 48 hours that I was in the Riviera. The first night we went to Monaco, which is considered it’s own country and is ruled by Prince Albert II. Monaco is known for money, money & money, with a 0% unemployment rate. It has the Monte Carlo Casino, known as one of the richest casinos in the world – and some of the décor inside was literally made of gold. We spent the evening touring around the gardens of the casino and spending some time near the water. Cars like Ferraris & Bentleys were everywhere, as were really old people dressed like a million dollars. We had dinner near the Casino, and it was surprisingly not expensive and really good. France is close to Italy, so there is a lot of Italian influence in their cuisine. I had the best chocolate mousse that I have ever had for dessert. It wasn’t fluffy and yogurt tasting like it is in the States, but so rich and flavorful that I could barely finish my plate. Afterwards, Emily and I went into the Casino alone because the boys were not allowed inside with their shorts. I was excited to play at this world famous casino, but I knew I would just be walking out thirty euros poorer. I embarrassingly settled with my 5 euro chips to play roulette with old men that were betting with 100 euro chips. Somehow, I kept getting all the corner numbers right, and I walked out with 220 euros 45 minutes after being in the casino. That’s subtracting the cover I paid and the money I spent to buy the chips. It was pretty exciting…..but it lasted about thirty minutes. We missed our train ride back to the hotel, and I offered to pay the 90 euro cab ride back. Overall, a bitter sweet night.

The next day it was pouring outside, and none of us had the desire to go explore in the rain. So, we went and had lunch at our beachside hotel. We were indoors but had a good view of the sea, and I ordered an omelet and a honey crepe. I’ve decided that I do not really like crepes, there are far many tastier desserts in the world. Afterwards, we all went back into the hotel room and napped or read our books until it stopped raining later in the day. We took a train to Old Town Nice and walked along the beach and through a nice park. Nice was surrounded by flowers and gardens blossoming everywhere. We also watched the sunset from the middle of the town, as we searched for our fondue restaurant that was highly recommended in one of my books. Sadly, the restaurant was full for the night so we were left to find a new place to eat. We stumbled upon an Indian restaurant called Delhi Behli, and my friend Kevin experienced Indian food for the first time. Afterwards, we walked to a nearby casino because I really wanted to play my luck again. This time I lost 20 euros.

We had a 4pm flight out on Sunday, and we woke up around 10am to beautiful weather. We walked and sat along the beach right by our hotel, before going to the Beach Club for lunch. Not only did we have lunch outdoors on the beach, but all of us got our own chocolate fondue for dessert. It was really, really good, and it made up for the terrible pizza that I had as an entrée. It was not the most ideal weather for the French Riviera, but it was a relaxing and entertaining weekend. 

Switzerland - all about the chocolate

I planned on going to Switzerland when my parents came to Rome, so we went to Geneva and Interlaken for 5 days during the first week in April. My aunt and my cousin were also visiting at the same time. We flew into Geneva first, and spent the day driving around. Geneva is apparently the watch capital of the world, so we were surrounded by thousands of different watches. We went into a park where there was a clock designed with flowers, and you could tell the flowers had just started to blossom. We also went near the lake and saw the tallest water fountain in the world. It was situated in the middle of water, and went straight up. I didn’t think it was very pretty or anything, but it was interesting to see because it is one of Geneva’s tourist marks. We spent the afternoon shopping on Mont Blanc Street, which is the famous shopping street. My parents and my aunt bought really nice watches that originate from Switzerland. Afterwards, we drove around to find this Mexican restaurant because I really wanted Mexican food. Sadly, it was closed during the afternoon so we ended up eating falafel at a random place on that street. The falafel was not that good, but the red-hot chili sauce was delicious. Also, I quickly learned that Switzerland was the most expensive country that I have been to. Medium fries are around $7 at any given place, and even McDonald’s will cost you an average of $15-20 per meal. It’s a good thing I had Sammy paying for every thing…..I mean he always pays for everything, but it’s much easier to eat $7 fries when he is handing over the bills. Although, several times I got into arguments with him because he wanted to pay large amounts of money for things that were not worth it.

We left for Interlaken mid-afternoon, and it was a very beautiful scenic car ride through the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is a small town by the Junfrau mountain located in the Bernese Alps. We drove around the small city and ate at an Indian restaurant – it was pretty good and it had a Michelin Star (highest rating for a good restaurant). The next day, we woke up and walked around Interlaken and it’s park. It was chilly outside but the mountains with the snow looked so beautiful and surreal. My cousin Ami and I decided that we needed to do something fun in Switzerland, since it is known to contain some of the best extreme and thrilling sports in the world. We decided to paraglide. We drove up to the mountains and choose random pilots to paraglide with when we got to the top. They told us that we had to pick the pilots because we had to “choose our destiny”, and then they told us that if anything happened to us our families would receive $150,000 in compensation. Not what I wanted to hear when I was about to jump off a mountain 4,000 feet high. Once we got to the top, I was clipped onto a large parachute and then attached to my pilot. He told me to sit far into his lap because we would basically be married for the next twenty minutes…..shady I know. Once we were all fastened onto the parachute and all, we had to run downhill on the mountain – as if we were going to jump from it. This was the scariest part, because I was the one leading. After about 10 seconds, we were floating in the air around the Swiss Alps. It was a really amazing experience, but not as thrilling as I expected. I think skydiving would be much much scarier. Still, it was the riskiest thing I have ever done, and I was very calm and excited for it.

After our little sporting event, Ami and I did a chocolate show at this famous chocolatier that has been around since 1818. We learned how cocoa beans are grown and how powder from the bean is used to make various types of chocolates. We were allowed to sample milk, dark and white chocolate chips – and I can honestly say it was the best milk chocolate I have ever had in my life. The dark chocolate was much more bitter than the States, but still tasty! We also got to dip strawberries into the milk and dark chocolate that was being melted in a machine to form into chocolates. I was in heaven. Lastly, we were shown how shaped chocolate was made (like the bunnies around Easter) and were allowed to sample other chocolates. We also received a voucher to buy chocolates from their chocolate shop, and Ami and I each got a pastry and a chocolate shoe. Afterwards, we shopped around for postcards and went to dinner. Ami and I went to fondue while my parents and my aunt went to search for “American style pizza”. – Apparently Italian style pizza did not have enough flavoring for them. We choose a place called the Chateu, and it smelled like dirty, wet dog when we stepped in. I was so desperate for cheese fondue, I decided the smell would not bother me. I was wrong, in between dipping my bread into the cheese, I had to sniff my hair so that I would not pass out. Ami felt the same way, so I was NOT exaggerating. When we left the restaurant, we met up with my family and let them smell us. They were not pleased. That night, my parents went to a nearby casino while Ami and I had a drink in the lounge and went to bed early. It was a good thing that we left Interlaken the next morning, because it was raining hardcore and the sky was really cloudy. We spent the day driving through Bern & Laussane, and stopped in Montreux for the afternoon. Montreux is on the Swiss Riviera, and it has a really pretty scenery because it surrounded by water with the Swiss Alps in the background. We went to the Chateau de Chillon which was first constructed in 1160 and was located right on Lake Geneva. It was really cool to walk through the various rooms and see the artifacts, and my parents enjoyed it because they haven’t been to a museum like thing in ages. We finally made it back to Geneva in the late evening and went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. The nachos were really good, but only because I hadn’t had Mexican food in SO long. The next day was Easter, so most things in Geneva were closed. We slept in and drove around during the afternoon. We visited the United Nation headquarters and the world trade building and took pictures around it. Many of the UN conventions take place in Geneva, so that was interesting to see. For lunch, Dominos was one of the only places open so I settled for my own small sized $25 pizza made with processed cheese. I’m going to have a hard time eating “processed cheese” pizza in the States after 4 months of fresh mozzerella in the US. In the evening, we went to a nearby casino where I played roulette and loss. I really had fun playing that though, and was winning for a little bit of the time. There was also free chocolate all around the Casino, so I stuffed about 50 pieces into my purse and pockets. Swiss chocolate is really really good and really really expensive, so this was totally worth it. I forgot to mention that chocolates are always on the reception desks at all hotels in Switzerland, and I had to have eaten at least seventy pieces of free chocolate during my 5 -day trip. Overall, the Swiss Alps were absolutely beautiful, and the chocolate was the best chocolate in the whole world. 

London - Love

If I could leave Chicago and move to any other city in the world, hands down it would be London. That should tell you how much I loved it, because I always claim I would never leave Chicago. Yes, everything in London was more expensive than Chicago, but the shopping, food, and Indian men were incomparable.

I had been saving the big three cities for Spring Break, because I knew I wanted to spend the most time there. I started in London, went to Paris and ended in Barcelona.

I got into London late on a Thursday night, and we stayed at a Holiday Inn ten minutes away from center of everything.  On Friday morning, we did a free walking tour where we saw the changing of the guards for the royal palace, Buckingham palace, royal gardens, Trafalgar square, Big Ben, the Parliament, and Westminster Abbey Church. Our tour guide was really good, and told us many interesting stories about all these places. We did not go inside the Parliament because it is closed when in session, and we didn’t go into the palace because it is only open to the public in the summer.  After the tour ended, we went to a traditional English pub where most people got “fish and chips” I always thought that would be some kind of fish dip with chips, but it’s fried fish on French fries. I got a veggie burger, which was homemade and different from the veggie burgers at home! Afterwards, we went by the water to the London Eye (big ferris wheel that gives you a view of London), and took pictures there. Then we went near the Big Ben clock and did the same. At 5pm we went to an evening song event at Westminister Abbey, because that is the only time that you can get into the church without paying a $20 entrance fee. The choir was really peaceful and the church was beautiful. I saw the alter where Prince Williams and Kate Middleton got married. Westminister Abbey is the official church for nearly all of the royal events, so it was pretty exciting to see the inside of it!

Afterwards, we went to the shopping street where one of the world’s most famous department store resides – Harrod’s. This department store was one of the most beautiful things I have ever been in. It had about 10 different floors full of everything imaginable. The bottom floor held all the designer purses, with each corner of it representing a different designer. There was a floor for just diamonds. Even a floor where there were puppies and every toy possible for your pet. In addition, there was a whole sector of Harrod’s just for CHOCOLATE. Chocolate that you could buy by the pound, in a package, as a candy bar, as hot chocolate, just about anything you can imagine. There was also a tea room, restaurant and café. Sadly, the only purchases I made from this store were fruit teas and chocolates. Nordstrom, Von Maur and Macy’s cannot even compare to how amazing and enormous this department store was.

Next, we went to Platform 9 ¾  which was underground in between the platforms for the underground railway system. I don’t know a thing about Harry Potter, but it was cool to take a picture here. We headed to Leicester Square for dinner, because we knew it had London’s only Chipotle there. This square is home to the entertainment and social world of London, and it was brightly lit up with fountains, theaters, restaurants and other entertainment venues everywhere. We walked around the area for a while, and saw street performers dancing and doing magic tricks. It took us about an hour to find Chipotle because very few people in London knew what it was, but we were all satisfied once we did. We ended the night by shopping around for postcards and stamps before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we went back to Buckingham Palace to watch the official changing of the guards ceremony that happens at 11am each day. This is when the queen’s guards come on horseback and change their positions. Unfortunately, it was raining so the ceremony was canceled. We decided to go to the British Library next, which ended up being one of my favorite things to visit. It held the original magna Carta for London, handwritten lyrics on envelopes, paper, etc by the Beatles, original scripts by Shakespeare, the script of Alice in Wonderland, and so many other original pieces that were historically significant or famous in the entertainment industry. Best of all, it was a free entrance to see all of this! After the library we went to a nearby English pub for lunch since it was Saint Patrick’s day and we wanted to get some beer. We took a train to see Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is where many royal funerals have taken place. (Including Princess Diana’s). The church was really pretty, but not one of the best that I have seen in Europe. My friend Emily and I decided to get tea and a pastry by near the cathedral, because “tea time” is a very English thing to do. I got a vanilla based tea with a lemon cake, and the lemon cake is the best lemon flavored thing that I have ever had.

Most of the other people that I came to London with decided to go to a musical that evening, because London is suppose to be as good as the broadway shows in New York. Emily and I were not very interested in this, instead we went to London’s main shopping street known as Oxford Circus. I had a lot of fun going into the different stores, including TopShop which is known to be London’s forever 21. (Pricier and trendier though). I bought a gold and metallic shirt that I really have been wanting for a while, as well as a scarf to go with my new coat! Afterwards we decided to go see the Kensington Palace (where William and Kate live), but it was a  bad idea because apparently the palace is not lit up at all during the night. We could barely make the outline of the palace, and it was disappointing after all the metro changing we had to do to get there. We ended the night by going to a well-known Indian restaurant named Dishoom. This is where I people watched the Indian community, and noticed how Indians are so much more attractive in London. The food was also good, but Emily saw a little rat running around just as we were leaving the restaurant……don’t really know what to say to that.

Sunday was the last full day we had in London. I began the morning by taking the train to Tower of London. It was a beautiful day outside, so I got to take a lot of good pictures of the tower that was once a castle. We toured around the inside and I saw a wing of the castle where many traitors were kept and tortured. We got a chance to see some of the original methods and tools they used for torture, and it was really shocking to see inscriptions on the walls left by the traitors during their time there. My favorite part of the tower was visiting the crown jewels. This is Where many of the diamond crowns and rings of Queens and Kings are located. Also, the world's biggest diamond - 530 carats lives here…..I wish I had that in my drawer.

In the afternoon, I headed to Leyton to meet some of my friends to do an Olympic tour of Leyton, London – where the 2012 Summer Olympics are going to be held! The tour took 2.5 hours, but it was not what we expected. Our tour guide was really boring and old, and there was not as much prepared and accessible to see as we had anticipated. Instead, this old woman decided to tell us about the town, the river, the streets, and other things that I had no care for. However, we did get to see practice indoor swimming pools that are going to be used for the swimmer athletes, the pringle stadium for the basketball Olympics, and most interesting of all – the Olympic walkway for the athletes!  We ended by seeing the ArcelorMittal Orbit designed by Anish Kapoor – worth 20 million pounds, and it will offer panoramic views of the olympics. I am really curious to see how this all looks on television when the Olympics come about this fall.

As much as I wanted to explore more of London because I loved it so much, I was too tired to do anything else Sunday evening. I walked around with some of my friends as we searched for a good place to eat, but a lot of things were closed. Europe in general closes a lot of its shops on Sundays, but I expected London to be more like home. Instead, I ended up eating McDonald’s as my last meal…..but unlike Chicago, they have a veggie burger wrap which was pretty ridiculous.

I spent my three days in London thinking how much I loved it and how sad I would be to leave…..even though I was moving on to Paris. I almost did not leave when I was suppose to, because I barely made my flight the next morning to Paris. Let’s just say that I underestimated how long it would  take me to get through security. 

Milan

I went to Milan with Laila and Avanti the same weekend I was in Verona. We took a very early train into Milan, and had the train station hold our luggage because Avanti and I were going to fly back to Rome late that night. The first thing we did in Milan was visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria. It’s the 2^nd largest catholic cathedral in the worl, and it was stunning with it’s off white stone carved architecture. We climbed to the top of this cathedral and got one of the best views of Milan. I quickly realized that this city was more industrialized and had a lot more taller and modern buildings then other cities I had visited. After the cathedral, we had lunch at a generic pizza chain restaurant and the pizza was not the best I’ve had. We walked around Milan a little bit, examining various monuments and statues before dedicating the rest of the day looking at high-end designer shops. Being the fashion capitol of the world, I expected top of the line stores, where my mouth would drop because the products and the stores would look so amazing. Well, let’s just say I was disappointed. It was really fun visiting my favorite designers – Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, etc but I was envious at the hundreds of people I saw carrying shopping bags from those stores. Buying something there was not exactly in the budget….but, I did find myself a red trench coat from MANGO for spring. It was on sale, and I was so sick of taking pictures in my purple coat so I was very satisfied with my purchase. The only other thing to do in Milan was to see the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci – the last supper. Except, Sunday was the once day where the museum was not open. The last thing on our agenda was to check out these so called designer outlets that were located a little out of the city. We took three separate trains to get there, only to realize it was a small department store that had random designer things on sale. In other words, it couldn’t even compete with Nordstrom rack. So, that was the end of Milan. I’m glad I took a day to tour the city and see what people call the fashion world – but I wasn’t entirely impressed. 

Verona

For the second week in March, I decided to travel to Verona – the town depicted in Romeo & Juliet. I went to see my friend Laila, and our friend Avanti that flew in for Spring Break. I had the genius idea to hop on my train and then call my friend Laila and tell her to pick me up at the train station, instead of calling her beforehand and giving her the details.…….Two minutes into the train ride, I realized that I had forgotten my phone. This was my first trip alone, I did not have her phone number, I did not remember any phone number, my phone had no internet, and I was going to get into Verona at 10pm with no map or Italian skills. (Both which I’ve decided to ignore in an attempt to just have fun and treat this semester as a vacation). So, I hopped off the train and went to the McDonald’s in the train station – which claimed it had wifi. The goal was to get on facebook (from my iphone – which I never forget).and message Laila – or ask one of my roommates to call her from my phone left at home to call Laila and tell her to COME AND CLAIM ME. Nobody spoke English, and I apparently needed my Italian phone to connect. This man attempted to help me for 30 minutes as I sat there debating to get a hotel for the night, before Laila rushed in. If you know me, very often do I show excitement – this was one of those times. Somehow she had communicated with my roommates and figured out I had left my phone at home. I spent the next two nights in her apartment, which was big and really cute. The next day she had class, so I was left alone to explore Verona for 4 hours on my own. I walked to Piazza Bra, which was lined with designer shops and nice restaurants that overlooked the beautiful arena. The arena is a mini colosseum basically. I also went to Piazza Erbe and looked at the tent shops. Afterwards, Laila and I made a delicious homemade Italian dinner – complete with store bought chocolate bread. We made plans for the next day and for our day trip to Milan. On Saturday, we were walking past castel vecchio (bridge to a famous castle) when I saw a lovely sign that Romeo and Juliet was being filmed. Upon investigation, Laila and I discovered that Ed Westwick – CHUCK EFFING BASS was there playing the role of Tybalt. I told Laila we would be spending the whole day there waiting for him to come out – seeing him would be the highlight of my study abroad experience – and I got very lucky! After pondering around the area for 45 minutes, we saw him come out all dressed in medieval attire with long hair. Not going to lie, it took me a while to recognize him – but my friend Laila finally convinced me it was him. We tried to get autographs since there was not a huge crowd, but we couldn’t get through security. Nonetheless, I was VERY content J. Afterwards, we went to Juliet’s House and I went inside and took pictures on her famous balcony. The house contained a ton of furniture and costumes from the original movies, as well as several paintings of Romeo and Juliet compiled by artists throughout the year. I did not write a letter to Juliet wishing for a long lost lover, but I did rub her breasts on a statue to get good luck in finding a lover in the nearby future. Afterwards, we went and picked up our friend Avanti from the train station and went back home to freshen up. We choose a very authentic Italian place for dinner, and I was nervous to go because I knew the vegetarian options would be limited. I got a glass of red wine from the Veneto region, an appetizer that was squash baked with sweet cheese, and a pasta dish that tasted like smoked leaves. It was not the best meal I had ever had, but it was a good experience. As the 3 of us were walking home, we encountered one of the best things ever. There was a carneval festival happening in one of the main piazzas in Verona! It was really, really amazing, for a small town like Verona. There were dozens of large floats playing fun music, hundreds of dancers going around in a parade, musicians and magicians walking around doing tricks and throwing prizes and confetti at people and more. I “got confettied” about 5 times without expecting it – and I actually enjoyed it without being concerned about how I would get it off my coat and out of my hair. At one point, two of the performers came over to pick me up and pour confetti all over my hair. We stood around, took pictures and blew bubbles for a while before trekking our way back to Laila’s apartment. We were so happy to randomly run into the festival, because it was a great ending to my time in Verona. 

Budapest

I was super pumped for this trip, because Budapest has many Turkish baths and I heard that everything in the city would be cheaper. The Turkish baths were outdoor and indoor baths that are naturally heated, and many of them are medicinal baths with natural minerals that help your body relax and improve skin. (Not like I ever knew this before the trip). We flew in late Thursday night and flew our late Sunday evening, so it was the perfect amount of time. The weather was finally getting warmer, but we still needed coats and boots! I went with five of my other friends and we stayed at a Best Western on the Pest side – Buda and Pest are divided by the Danube river. The day began with a cappuccino, chocolate pastry and a bottle of water – which to my shock came out to be only $3.50. (Twice as cheap as anything in Rome). We did a free walking tour of Budapest that lasted about two hours. The tour guide was extremely wise and told us great stories about the locations. We visited the main square, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the US embassy, a monument attributed to soviet soldiers that had died in WWII, and the parliament building. The parliament building was really big and beautiful – and apparently one of the 100 wonders of the world and one of the largest in Europe. We really wanted to come back and tour the inside on Saturday, but unfortunately all the tickets for the tours were sold out and you couldn’t wander in and look around without a guide. After this tour, we found a place called the Hummus Bar and I was SOOO excited to have falafel and hummus! Since this was the day of Unofficial, we wanted to start drinking in the early afternoon. We went barhopping around Budapest, and ended up at the number 2 best rated bar by Lonely Planet - Szimpla Kert. It wasn’t elegant with lots of drink options like you would expect. Instead, it was a ruins pub that was three  stories big with falls full of graffiti and old artistic looking junk everywhere. I actually really liked it and had a lot of fun there that night. Towards the end of the night, I came across guys from a bachelor party who were flying in from Capetown, it was a lot of fun talking with them and telling them inappropriate things. We ended up joining their bachelor party until the next bar – at which point we decided it was late and time to go home. The next day we woke up and went to the large market hall to check out Hungarian spices, foods and other bakery treats. It was a really big indoor market, and I picked up postcards and some desserts here. Next, we went inside Saint Stephen’s Cathedral and saw his preserved hand in one of the back rooms from 1058. It was pretty cool but kind of weird. Everyone wanted to visit a famous underground cave, so we spent the rest of the afternoon taking a tour inside one. I had never been in a cave before so it was an interesting experience. We also went up Fisherman’s bastion and the Buda Castle which were up on a hill. We got panoramic views of Budapest, watched the sun go down, and enjoyed freshly baked cinnamon bread. In the evening, we walked across the famous chain bridge and went to a typical Hungarian restaurant. Hungary is known for meat dishes, so I knew I wouldn’t find much to eat – I actually ate a dish that had fried cheese with rice and tarter sauce….not the best. Our agenda for the night was to visit the number 1 rated bar in the world – called A38, which was a bar/club on a big boat. It was really cool to be on a club in a boat, but it was not what we expected. We ended the night by returning to Szimpla Kert. Our last day in Budapest was planned to be very relaxing. We went to the Szechenyi Baths, one of the best known baths in all of Budapest that had over 2 dozen different types of baths indoors and outdoors. The outdoors ones were mostly hot water – warmed naturally by spring water. It was really nice going into this enormous hot tub because the weather outside was cold. I also tried several of the indoor baths – ones that had natural minerals or were medicinal. It was an interesting experience, because I was not going into pools or water that had any chlorine. I ended my trip to Budapest with an hour long massage – that was half the price of what it would be in the states. 

Naples

On the last weekend of February, we were scheduled to go to a cheese farm for the entire day, so I did not travel out of Italy. But, I did take a day trip to Naples on Saturday. This trip began rough – on Thursday I had attempted my first “outdoor running” experience, and on Friday afternoon I had hiked up some steep hills to get to the cheese farm. On Friday night it was one of my friend’s birthday, so we were out at a club until 2am. So, waking up at 8am and taking a 3 hour train into Naples was not ideal. Every muscle from my waist down was aching from my two days of rough physical activity. (haha J ) I traveled to Naples only with my one roommate and her boyfriend because everyone else was feeling “too sick” and decided they would see Naples another time. The first thing we did when we left the train station was search for the ever famous pizzeria – Da Michele. Naples is where pizza was first created, so it is home to some of the best tasting pizza in the world. The pizzeria Da Michele is the one that Julia Roberts eats at in Eat, Pray & Love (and obvi same one from the book). The outside of this pizzeria was extremely crowded, and we went and got a number to wait to eat inside. After an hour and a half later and a big misunderstanding, we quickly came to realize that it would be about 3 more hours before we could actually sit down and eat. I was pretty frustrated, so I decided to take the pizza as “take away” (as they call it in Italy) and eat it on the side of the street like a homeless person. The streets of Naples are much dirtier than any streets I’ve seen before, and there are no benches. I didn’t care, I quickly gobbled up the pizza. It was sooo soooo good. I ate it so fast that I felt a little sick afterwards, but I continued two blocks before I decided I needed some gelato. We walked around Naples for a couple hours, but it was very dirty, kind of shady, and not very beautiful. Walking down the mall area was nice – that is where I saw a Michael Jackson impersonator. He not only danced like MJ, but he legit looked like him. Sketch. But this one of my favorite things that happened in Naples. Because there was nothing else really special about it. We walked into this piazza del Plebiscito, which was beautiful in architecture – especially at night. It was one of the few places that did not have massive amounts of graffiti everywhere. Afterwards we walked around Castel Nuovo, trying to kill time before our 8:30 train ride home. We got in a bus to head back to the train station and witnessed a dangerous “domestic” fight. A 200 pound woman and a skinny man were literally clawing each other, pulling out each other’s hairs and pulling off things like coats and shoes. As scary as it was, I was more concerned about the fact that we were taking the bus without buying a bus ticket and if the police came to end this fight, we would all be checked. Typical of me, I know. We decided to get off the bus and took a cab back to the train station. I knew I would be hungry so I decided to get McDonald’s at the train station. They had a hard time understanding “a burger without meat but with all the veggies”. This fiasco ended with me yelling at about 3 people until my order was right. Finally, we hopped on the bus to make it back to Rome.

Super cool that I ate at the famous pizzeria, but Naples will never see me ever again. Also, for some reason there were SO MANY INDIAN people in Naples – Rome has like none…..except for the hundreds of single, weird Indian men that are street vendors and gawk at me because there is no other Indian girl in the city of Rome.