mind the gap

this is one of my fav british things. we hear it all day long as we ride on the tube. its much more proper than us english. we would say "hey - look out for that big hole" "mind the gap" sounds better.

it is raining in london. we got a bit wet today. still trying to warm up. but all of the proper british tea is helping with that.

went to the tower of london and saw the crown jewels. impressive.

we saw the ravens at the tower. the superstition says that if the ravens ever leave the tower of london that the crown will fall and britain with it. i am happy to report that all is still well with the crown and britain. since they clip the wings of the ravens they probably don't have to worry too much.

the tower bridge is amazing.

then there is big ben. hello big ben! and the london eye. and a red double decker bus!

and the westminster abbey.

we also saw st. paul's cathedral. i didn't take any pics though. we walked around london city proper which is all these small side streets with pubs and small shops.

and tonight is going to be epic! we are watching proper football! for you crazy people on the other side of the big lake - that would be soccer. england is playing montenegro. go england! God save the queen! we are also drinking proper beer. so much properness - love it!!

when in london do as the londoners do

guess who is here!!!!!

hayley got here yesterday morning. i got up before the crack of dawn and rode the tube out to the airport to get her. i pretended that i was a londoner going to work. i would have fit in except i was wearing my chacos. it gave me away. that and my all around americanness. so great to have her here!!!

we spent yesterday just chillin' in my friends' flat. that is an apartment in case you don't know your british english. we are working on our vocab while here. rubbish instead of trash. trousers - not pants! that is an important one - b/c pants are underwear here. :) brilliant! cheers! "do you fancy" instead of "would you like". crisps not chips. chips not french fries. now if we could just get the accent down! we did venture across the street to get some proper fish and chips. yum!!

today we headed into the city. london is fantastic! we road the tube in and got off at piccadilly circus station. you come out from underground and into a different world! its amazing! we walked over to trafalgar square.

big ben from trafalgar square

we toured the national gallery. so much beautiful art. my favorites were the paintings by monet and cezanne. i like the impressionists apparently.

the national gallery

then we went to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!! IN LONDON.

it was SO good. phantom. in london. i wanted to break out in song on the tube on the way home - but hayley wasn't so keen on that idea. i don't understand why? :)

tomorrow we are going on another adventure into the city. haven't decided where yet - but that is the beauty of it. we are on holiday!!!!! :)

back in the homeland

okay so i'm not really from london - but i wish! b/c a lot of my favorite people live here. benedict. adele. william. kate. george. the queen. i am like 1/16 english.

my two fav british people tho are trevor and clare! and i actually know them. :) (i promise a pic soon!) trev came and got me at the airport today. i suppose its just like going to dia to pick someone up - but when you drive on the other side of the road AND the other side of the car somehow that seems like a bigger deal.

speaking of being on the other side...so i go to get in the car and trev says, "um liz - you need to get in the other side." ha!!! rookie mistake! come on liz! trev was gracious and only laughed at me a little bit.

its great to be here. in the morning hayley greeno comes!!! whoot whoot!!!

until another day - cheers!!!

ps. i've already had 3 cups of proper english tea. i'm in heaven!

vernazza to florence

i spent yesterday resting. the whole point of me going to cinque terre was to hike the trails in between the 5 towns. i didn't do that. i was sick yesterday. i don't know if it was the left over from being sick in the czech, allergies from mold & mildew (its quite damp in these coastal towns) or if its my smokers cough that i have acquired since being in europe due to ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SMOKE - AHHHHH!!! (can you tell it bothers me a bit?)  but i woke up and had a really hard time breathing and was coughing up a storm. so i took it easy. it rained some of the day so I didn't feel super bad about not hiking. although i really want to do it someday b/c its beautiful. a few pics i took...

vernazza with a little fog coming over the hill

this was the side "street" that led to my hostel in vernazza

drinking fountain in the middle of town

all the rock on the shore looks like this - its beautiful

the wall lining one of the walk ways

i did go to mass in the church in vernazza yesterday. since i'm not catholic and it was all in italian i didn't really understand anything. but it was sunday and i wanted to go to church. Jesus still hung out with me so it was all good. and i did catch when you pass the peace of Christ - so i got to shake a bunch of people's hands and pass the peace of Christ to them. that was cool.

church i went to mass at

this morning i left vernazza at 9:34am on the train. made my way to la spezia. from la spezia i got on another train that left at 10:20am to pisa. i have been to pisa before so i didn't feel the need to see it again. so i got on another train that left at 12:01pm to florence. i arrived in florence around 1:23ish and made my way to my last hostel in italy. it was pouring rain, but being the ever prepared girl scout that i am - i had my raincoat on, umbrella in hand and rain cover on my backpack!

rainy streets of florence with lots of umbrellas!

my jeans got a little wet :)

dropped my stuff off at the hostel and headed back out to see something while i am here. the duomo is only a few blocks away - so i went and saw that. and by saw it - i just walked around it and went inside the free cathedral - not the museum. really beautiful! then i got tired of walking around in the rain and being wet. so now i am hunkered down for the evening. thankful for another great day in italy!

one side of the duomo

another side - pretty amazing right?

geoff & juliet

geoff & juliet (bummer geoff's eyes are closed - oh well!)

meet geoff & juliet. juliet grew up in the philippines and geoff in australia. they live in sydney, australia. they are in the middle of a two week cruise around italy and are spending a few days in vernazza. they were a gift to me today. (i will come back to them in a minute)

left positano this morning at roughly 7:10am. when the bus pulled up it was full. i needed to get on that bus in order to make a bunch of connections - so i put my baggage underneath and got on. the bus driver told me it was full and i pretended like i didn't know what he was saying. i just smiled and kept saying "sorrento si?":) he let me stay on though - i stood right next to him in the very front of the bus. some of you have been on the road to positano and amalfi  - so you know why i was contemplating my immanent death. but five mins into the drive the lady in the front seat got out - so i sat down. yay! 

leg two of liz's travel day was the public metro from sorrento to naples. that was mostly uneventful. i did get on the wrong train at first - but it only required me to get of and get on another one with no major hassles. 

leg three was train from naples to rome. uneventful. except you know those people when you are traveling that seem to have no idea what they are doing and who they are affecting? like they are dropping their stuff in people's laps, hitting people with their luggage and taking FOREVER to figure out where to put their stuff once they got on whatever form of transport you are on? you know who i am talking about. yep - that was me today. i don't know what the deal was - but i was just up in everyones grill with all my stuff - dropping things and hitting people with my massive backpack. it was quite comical. can i chalk it up to only a few hours of sleep?

leg 4 - i was pretty tired and done at this point. so from rome to la spezia (3 1/2 hour train ride) i booked a first class seat. it was like $30 more than the regular ticket and it was worth it. i got to stretch out, sleep a bit and enjoy the amazing scenery as we traveled through a bit of wine country. totally support my spontaneous upgrade. 

leg five and the last leg - train from la spezia to vernazza. missed that hourly train by about 5 seconds. bummer. but not really. back to geoff & juliet. they missed it too. so we had an hour to chat while we waited for the next train as it is the only way to get to vernazza. on the train into la spezia i had seriously contemplated just getting another train to florence, changing my ticket and going to london early. not b/c i was tired of traveling. honestly i was just tired of being alone. what i have found on this trip is that i don't like to travel alone. once i get somewhere i am okay being by myself - but the traveling really isn't fun and i FEEL really alone in it. geoff & juliet changed that for me. they immediately took me into their lives. geoff was watching out for my bags and juliet was making sure i got to my bed and breakfast. we kept seeing each other in vernazza after we got here (since the town is like three blocks long) and we would stop and chat like we are old friends. i sat at a pizzeria outside for dinner. they were walking by and juliet says, "geoff - its liz! do you want pizza for dinner?" they had bought a bottle of wine - so they shared it with me. we had pizza, drank wine, talked, laughed. i love this on so many levels. a) Jesus knows what i need and always steps in when i am at my end 2) i think it is so amazing that you can strike up a conversation with people who live on the opposite side of the world and end up having dinner and acting like old friends in a period of hours. its really beautiful. when we left the pizzeria, geoff said, "good night dear!" and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. precious!

so anyway -  one bus, four trains, 11 hours and two new friends later i am in vernazza, italy. within a few mins of being here it quickly became my favorite. i will save commentary on vernazza for tomorrow. but i will leave you with a few pics so you won't be too mad at all my words in this post!!

me on the pier in vernazza - its a bit rainy at the moment

huge rocks on the pier  - i really liked this pic so thought i would share :)

my pesto pizza - so good!