Traveling the World : Day 7, 8, 9, & 10!

Wow that's a lot of days! I'm sorry for keeping all my loyal blog readers waiting, I know you must have been thinking everyday "I wish Tyler would post a blog". But don't you worry, the day has finally come! (i'm just kidding I know you never thought this but for my confidence sake, let's pretend you did). Anyways in case you don't remember, my last blog ended with us taking a train to Milan, Italy. We actually aren't there anymore but I'll get you caught up to the present.

So, the train ride from Venice to Milan was about 3 hours. When we arrived, we just explored the city and walked around. Milan is very comparable to Rome, but less crowded and filled with shops. So, if any of you have $1,000 to throw around then come on over to Milan and you can buy one dress!!! I'm partially kidding, some stores were so expensive that it was just a joke to walk in but there are some stores that are actually reasonably priced. They had a really nice shopping area with a glass ceiling and it had stores like Prada and Louis Vitton. There was a model getting pictures taken also while we were there which was cool to see. While walking around, we also went and saw the Duomo, Milan's most popular cathedral. It was in the middle of a square, which of course was filled with pigeons *yay*. After walking around for awhile and admiring unreasonably priced clothes, we took the subway to the Canal District part of Milan. It looked like Venice but wasn't nearly as beautiful if that makes sense. So, we walked through there for awhile (it was very hot) and then headed back to eat dinner in Milan.

Fast forward to day 8: Yes, we are still in Milan. We took a big red bus tour around the city and it took us by numerous places. One was a horse racing stadium and outside of it they had invited street artists to come and spray paint on the wall. It was very cool and interesting to see what each artist chose to spray paint. We also drove past AC Milan and Inter Milan's soccer stadium. It was huge! Also, there were several historical buildings we saw and a couple unique sculptures throughout the city.

Day 9: We left for Cinque Terre! Cinque Terre means five towns which bordered the Mediterranean Sea. We had our own personal tour guide that led us throughout the villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. I don't know how to say any of them but they were pretty! We arrived in Monterosso by train, met our guide, then took a boat all the way down to the last town, Riomaggiore. We walked through Riomaggiore then took a train to Manarola, explored and ate lunch, and then took a train to Vernazza. After walking through Vernazza, we took a train back to Monterosso and had to catch our train back to Milan. Whew! It was crazy. But, I had a really fun time and the villages we walked through were gorgeous. It was nice to have our own guide too because she told us about the history behind each town and some of the buildings. For instance, there were some very narrow passageways which was from the time when pirates were invading the town and trying to kidnap women and children. The buildings were so close together through those passageways so they could jump from window to window without having to go down below because it was dangerous. Also, there was a huge flood in 2011 that destroyed many of the towns but the worst was Vernazza. The water was as high as the train tunnel that they had above ground and after four days, the mud was still as high as the ground over the tracks. We walked through a church that had to be completely restored because the whole floor was ruined from the water and some of the walls were still ruined. But anyways, Cinque Terre was very cool and comparable to Positano but it seemed more touristy. The water was beautiful though and people were cliff jumping into it. We eventually left Cinque Terre after walking around for about 4 hours and we were exhausted when we got back to Milan so we just went out to dinner then headed back to our hotel. Dinner was at an Argentine Steakhouse which was so delicious that we may or may not have been there the night before as well. Oh and I also may or may not have had a lemonchillo shot.

Day 10: We are back in the present and in Barcelona, Spain! I had to leave Italy today and I was very reluctant. I absolutely loved it and hope to go back someday. But anyways, we boarded our flight around 1:00 today and arrived in Barcelona, Spain around 3:00. Rob met us here so we now have one more leader to help us navigate throughout the city! Yay!! Barcelona is also comparable to Rome, only slightly more Americanized we decided. I still love it though and enjoy being in a Spanish environment after being in Italy for so many days! For dinner we had tapas which is very popular in Spain and tapas are small dishes that you order for your table and all share. Then later I tried some Sangria! Despite my first opinion of plain red wine: "it tastes like something just died in my mouth", I actually really enjoyed Sangria! Even though I'm sure you all know, Sangria is red wine with fruit in it and it's soooo good. We have 3 more days left in Europe/Spain and then it's back to the real world!

For those of you who aren't friends with my Uncle Brad on Facebook I compiled a list of things I miss from home not in any particular order (no I am not miserable on my trip or unthankful, just pondering what I am grateful for back at home) :

My dogs (Bogey, Bandit, and Gus)
My cat (Tigger)
My dad- hi dad ~i love you & miss you~
My brother- you're alright too and i guess ^
My bed
My grandparents
Uncle Erik, Aunt Kelly, and cousins

Ok here comes the inanimate objects:

My shower
Chargers that don't need adapters so I can charge my phone whenever I want
People and clothes that don't smell
Fanta that actually tastes like Fanta
Netflix that doesn't say "sorry Netflix has not come to this part of the world yet"
Real air conditioning
Food that doesn't contain squid ink or other unusual items
Riding in a car without fearing for my life

And here are some bonus items for only my blog followers that you won't find on Facebook:

People who I don't have to worry constantly whether they are talking about me in a different language
Cab drivers that don't ramble in Italian despite knowing you have no idea what they are saying
Taking trains or subways to get everywhere

Us Americans have it easy! Okay now I will bombard you with millions of pictures from this seriously awesome trip that I'm having lots of fun on: